We have a mental health crisis in Blackpool and we need urgent crisis support as part of £343m investment

Blackpool South MP Chris Webb has called for urgent mental health support in the town after welcoming a £343 million government investment in adult mental health services.

The MP also warned that Blackpool must receive its "fair share" of the funding after the Labour Government has announced what it describes as the biggest redesign of adult mental health services in a generation.

The plans include up to 159 new NHS facilities across England, including walk-in community mental health centres and dedicated mental health emergency departments. Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, which serves Blackpool, is among the trusts set to benefit.

The announcement comes after Mr Webb met GPs at Arnold Medical Centre as part of his Beyond the Prom tour. Chris Webb MP said: "Yesterday, on my Beyond the Prom tour, I sat down with GPs at Arnold Medical Centre who told me what I hear across the town – we have a mental health crisis in Blackpool, and we need urgent crisis support."

While welcoming the investment, Mr Webb said national funding alone would not be enough unless Blackpool receives targeted support reflecting the town's level of need. "The scale of need in this town is not average – it's extreme,” he said.

Highlighting Department for Work and Pensions figures showing almost 42,000 people across Lancashire claim Personal Independence Payment for a psychiatric disorder, Mr Webb also said that more than 6,300 of those live in Blackpool, representing the highest total in the county.

He also said that the town also has the highest number of claimants for 15 individual psychiatric conditions and the second-highest for four others. Mr Webb also expressed concern that people living with conditions including anxiety, depression, autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder and psychosis were waiting too long for help.

"I've raised in Parliament the tragic case of Jamie Pearson, who took his own life in A&E after waiting nearly 24 hours for support,” Mr Webb said. “Blackpool cannot keep losing people this way."

The MP also pointed to the impact of deprivation, poor housing and insecure work on residents' mental health, saying young people he met in supported housing had told him they were self-medicating with cannabis because they could not access mental health support.

He praised local organisations and healthcare professionals, including Counselling in the Community and staff at South Shore Primary Care Centre, for working to improve access to support despite limited resources.

Following the funding announcement, Mr Webb said he will write to the area's Integrated Care Board demanding Blackpool is prioritised when the investment is allocated.

Mr Webb said: "This is about fairness. It's about making sure people in Blackpool get the same chance at a healthy, happy life as anyone else in the country. I'll keep raising this in Parliament and I'll keep pushing our ICB until Blackpool gets the support that matches what we need."