NHS England and GambleAware united in welcoming statutory levy and maintaining constructive relationship
The statement confirms the NHS England’s “commitment to continue the longstanding and constructive work with GambleAware”
London, 20 June 2023: GambleAware is the leading charity and strategic commissioner working to keep people safe from gambling harm in Great Britain. As a commissioner, the charity delivers prevention and treatment services for gambling harms, including the National Gambling Support Network. As part of this, GambleAware works with and alongside other voluntary sector organisations, as well as the NHS, to ensure people are able to access the services they need.
In recognition of this important partnership the National Clinical Advisor on Gambling Harms for NHS England, Prof. Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE has said:
“The Statutory Levy agreed in the recent Gambling White Paper has the potential to finally ensure the independence of funding for treatment and research programmes, as well as for prevention initiatives to address gambling harms.
“It must be implemented without delay in order for fully integrated treatment pathways to be established.
“In the interim period until the levy is distributed, the NHS has a commitment to continue the longstanding and constructive work with GambleAware to ensure that all patients in need of gambling treatment are accessing the service that they need.
“The NHS has no wish to be the sole provider of all gambling treatment at national level, on the contrary it is committed to working with non-statutory providers of gambling treatment across the country."
Welcoming this statement from NHS England, GambleAware’s CEO, Zoë Osmond, said:
“This statement from NHS England confirms the positive and constructive working relationship between the NHS and GambleAware. In our role as leading charity and strategic commissioner, partnership with those across the healthcare sector is vital. Through our commissioning of the National Gambling Support Network, we look forward to continuing to work closely with the NHS to ensure people are able to seamlessly access the services they need.
“Gambling is a serious public health issue which can affect anyone. As commissioner, we work closely with DCMS, DHSC, OHID, the Gambling Commission and NHS England to ensure efficient and effective service delivery across the country.
“We welcome the introduction of a statutory levy on the industry to provide certainty and stability of funding, which will allow us and others to make long-term commitments to meet the needs of the population.”
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About GambleAware:
- GambleAware is the leading independent charity (Charity No. England & Wales 1093910, Scotland SC049433) and commissioner of prevention, support and treatment services for gambling harms across Great Britain working to keep people safe from gambling harms.
- The charity delivers national public health campaigns, education programmes and drives the transformation of treatment and prevention services.
- GambleAware works in close collaboration with the NHS, clinicians, local and national government, gambling treatment providers, as well as other services like mental health, services for people who use drugs and alcohol, as well as harm reduction services, to ensure that the whole system works together to help people suffering from gambling harms.
- The charity has topic expertise with an established infrastructure and an extremely robust process in place to support the implementation of a long term, joined up commissioning strategy.
- GambleAware is guided by a Board of trustees, comprised of leaders from the NHS and public health, led by Baroness Kate Lampard CBE, lead non-executive director at DHSC. The gambling industry has absolutely no input or influence into any of GambleAware’s activities.