The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is to establish dedicated gambling addiction treatment centres across England as part of a new government initiative to make significant investment in mental health services. 

The measure has been announced as part of the ruling Conservative Party’s NHS Long Term Plan, which will increase spending on mental health services to at least £2.3bn a year by 2023/24. By doing so it aims to provide support and round-the-clock crisis care to more than 2m people in England that suffer from some form of poor mental health.

This covers gambling addiction, with treatment to be provided to more than 400,000 problem gamblers, and 2m people at risk of developing a problem, throughout the country. Key to this will be the establishment of new treatment centres. 

“We will invest in expanding NHS specialist clinics to help more people with serious gambling problems,” the government’s plan says. “Current treatment only reaches a small number through one national clinic. 

“We will therefore expand geographical coverage of NHS services for people with serious gambling problems, and work with partners to tackle the problem at source.”

Currently there is just one dedicated clinic, based in the London borough of Fulham, with plans to open a second in Leeds in April this year.