Tag: mental health

Waiting time figures highlight need for urgent action to tackle child mental health crisis

  • The NHS in Scotland failed to meet a maximum 18-week waiting time target for children and young people to receive treatment from mental health services
  • More than 3 in 10 are waiting more than 18-weeks for treatment.
  • 12 out of 14 health boards failed to meet the 18-week waiting time target:
    • NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside, NHS Borders, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Orkney, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley, NHS Shetland and NHS Forth Valley
  • 151 children and young people waited more than a year prior to being seen for treatment, three times that for the same quarter of last year.
  • More than one in five referrals for treatment are rejected.
  • Figures show only 0.53 per cent of NHS expenditure is spent on CAMHS, less than 7 per cent of the mental health budget.
  • Coalition calls for fundamental rethink and renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, including embedding mental health within education.

Continue reading Waiting time figures highlight need for urgent action to tackle child mental health crisis

Mental health support for new mums

Rollout of £1 million for counselling and befriending.

New mums at risk of poor mental health will be given access to increased support including counselling and befriending services.

The rollout is part of a £50 million investment in mental health services for new mums, babies and young children announced by the First Minister earlier this year.

An initial £1 million will support several key areas, including helping the third sector provide counselling, befriending and peer support for women and their families.

The funding will see new and expectant mothers get more consistent access to psychological assessment and treatment.

It will also be used to increase staffing and training at Mother and Baby Units for the 2,250 women with the most serious illnesses and to develop mental health services for babies.

Announcing the funding at Aberlour children’s charity, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “It’s crucial that these services are led by the needs of women, young children and families.

“We have sought the views of people who have experienced mental health issues during and after pregnancy – their voices have influenced where this money will go and the services it will deliver.

“Our vision is of a Scotland where women, young children and families do not face fear or stigma when experiencing mental health issues.”

Aberlour Chief Executive SallyAnn Kelly said: “I welcome this funding for third sector organisations who are striving to deliver high quality perinatal services to new parents and parents-to-be. To give children the best start in life, it is vital we support parents effectively.

“Aberlour has worked with over 300 families across Forth Valley and East Lothian but our ambition is to roll the Perinatal Befriending Service out across Scotland so that every parent, no matter where they live, has access to personalised support and assistance when and where they need it most.”

 

Go outdoors and join the Big Butterfly Count

Chris Packham is urging wildlife lovers to take part in the world’s largest insect citizen science survey to help reveal if the UK is experiencing a once in a decade butterfly phenomenon.

Unusually high numbers of Painted Lady butterflies have been reported across Europe over the spring and early summer with large numbers now spotted crossing over into the UK. Continue reading Go outdoors and join the Big Butterfly Count

Improvements to psychosis services

New proposals for the early treatment of psychosis

Improvements to psychosis services will ensure people get timely access to effective care and treatment. Backed by an investment of £400,000, a new national network for early intervention psychosis will look at how services can best be delivered.

The work will be led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland over a two year period and improvements to services will be brought in across the country based on the findings of the network.

Current estimates are that 1,600 people each year present with psychosis in Scotland.

Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey (above) said: “Psychotic disorders can be extremely debilitating and it’s vital that those experiencing psychosis are treated quickly and effectively.

“Treating psychosis in the early stages can reduce the amount of time a patient needs to spend in hospital, reduce relapses, and leads to more effective and long lasting outcomes.

“This work will ensure people presenting for the first time with psychosis anywhere in Scotland get timely access to effective care and treatment, with a focus on early intervention and recovery.”

Director of Improvement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Ruth Glassborow, said: “Healthcare Improvement Scotland is delighted to lead on this important work.

“We’ll conduct a national needs assessment and make recommendations for how early interventions in psychosis services can be tailored and delivered to meet specific needs in different areas.

“We will ensure that people living with psychosis are supported to participate fully in this work, to inform better long term outcomes for individuals.”

The Scottish Government has published its Vision to Improve Early Intervention in Psychosis in Scotland:

vision-improve-early-intervention-psychosis-scotland

 

 

Edinburgh Leisure launches new mental health film

Edinburgh Leisure, the city’s biggest physical activity and sports provider, has launched a new film, focusing on the benefits of getting active to improve your mental health and wellbeing. Continue reading Edinburgh Leisure launches new mental health film

Scottish Children’s Services Coalition: “We are failing thousands of children and young people with mental health problems”

Latest waiting time figures highlight need for fundamental shift in focus for child mental health services 

  • The NHS in Scotland failed to meet a maximum 18-week waiting time target for children and young people to receive treatment from mental health services
  • More than a quarter are waiting more than 18-weeks for treatment
  • Ten out of 14 health boards failed to meet the 18-week waiting time target:
    • NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside, NHS Borders, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Orkney and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley
  • 118 children and young people waited more than a year prior to being seen
  • Figures show only 0.53 per cent of NHS expenditure is spent on CAMHS, less than 7 per cent of the mental health budget
  • Coalition calls for fundamental rethink and renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, including embedding mental health within education

 

Latest waiting time figures have reinforced the call by a coalition of leading independent and third sector children and young people’s service providers for increased investment in mental health services with a much greater focus on prevention and early intervention. 

The call from the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) (see Notes to Editors for members), which campaigns to improve services for vulnerable children and young people, comes as the latest waiting time figures from the Information Services Division, part of NHS National Services Scotland, highlight that thousands of children and young people are failing to be treated within Scottish Government waiting time target. 

With an increasing number of children and young people being identified with mental health problems they also highlight a postcode lottery for mental health treatment across the country.

Covering the quarter January to March 2019, the figures highlight that 4,237 children and young people started treatment at specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in this period.

The NHS in Scotland, including ten of the 14 regional health boards, failed to meet the Scottish Government 18-week waiting time target for children and young people to receive treatment from CAMHS. This target should be delivered for at least 90 per cent of patients.

While 73.6 per cent in the NHS in Scotland are being seen within this 18-week waiting time, still in itself far too long, more than a quarter (26.4 per cent) are failing to be seen within this period.

Individual health boards failing to meet this target are: NHS Borders (target achieved for 40.0 per cent), NHS Fife (72.8 per cent), NHS Ayrshire & Arran (81.6 per cent), NHS Grampian (43.3 per cent), NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (80.6 per cent), NHS Highland (81.4 per cent), NHS Lanarkshire (76.6 per cent), NHS Lothian (69.1 per cent) and NHS Tayside (57.9 per cent)

The figures also indicate that 118 children and young people in the quarter had been waiting for more than a year prior to being seen for treatment, an increase from 108 in the previous quarter (October to December).  

It should be noted that a mere 0.53 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on specialist CAMHS, amounting to £61.074 million.  In addition to this, only 6.34 per cent of the overall mental health budget is spent on CAMHS.

These very low figures are despite the fact that mental health services are creaking at the seams due to greatly increasing demand, as evidenced by these waiting time figures. Research indicates that 10 per cent of children and young people (aged five to 16) has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem (around three in every classroom), with 50 per cent of mental health problems established by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 24.

While acknowledging the great efforts the Scottish Government is making, such as an additional £250 million of funding announced in the Programme for Government, the SCSC has called for the Scottish Government for greatly increased investment in CAMHS and for a more consistent approach to delivering these services across Scotland.

It has also called for a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention for those with mental health problem, reducing the need for referral to under-pressure specialist CAMHS.

This includes embedding mental health within education from an early age in order to strengthen knowledge and awareness of mental health, as well as reducing the stigma associated with mental health.

Emotion and resilience classes should be provided to all students from primary one to teach students how to work through their emotions in a healthy way and there should be a whole-school approach, with training for all staff involved in education and providing counselling support.

A spokesperson for the SCSC said: “These latest waiting time figures highlight that fact we are continuing to fail thousands of children and young people with mental health problems.

“The great efforts the Scottish Government is making, including an additional £250 million for mental health over the next five years announced in its recent Programme for Government, is to be welcomed, but more clearly needs to be done.

“These newly released figures highligh that the NHS in Scotland, including ten of our health boards, are failing to meet what is already a lengthy waiting time. Yet we know that three children in every classroom has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem.

“There must be a radical transformation of our mental health services, with a focus on preventing such problems arising in the first place and intervening early, especially when we know that half of all mental health problems begin before the age of 14.  This includes embedding mental health within education from an early age as well as providing training for all staff involved in education.

“With mental health and the issues associated with it representing one of the greatest public health challenges of our time, we must ensure that children and young people are able to get the care and support they need, when they need it. This includes investing in greater community support and support at school, reducing the need for referral to specialist CAMHS.”

The ISD figures released yesterday show that for the latest quarter to March 31st 2019, 85 young people in NHS Lothian waited over a year to be seen out of the 118 of young people waiting over a year across all NHS health boards in Scotland.

The number of young people waiting within the 18 week target in NHS Lothian has increased to a record 540, 69.1%, which is still below the national average of 73.6% seen within the 18 week target for the last quarter.

In NHS Lothian more young people are being seen within the 18 week target, however the 85 young people waiting over a year to be seen still makes up 72% of all young people waiting over a year to be seen in Scotland for the same quarter.

The CAMHS Workforce Report states that “NHS Grampian and NHS Lothian’s child & adolescent populations are projected to increase the most by over 6.0% each” (page 8), which means that NHS Lothian CAMHS will need extra funding to meet future demand.

Scotland’s first Youth Commission on Mental Health produced a report last week that said fundamental change was needed to the way young people with mental health issues were supported. Recommendation included that mental health education be embedded within the school curriculum and for education professionals to be trained in mental health support. 

The commission’s also called for waiting times to access child and adolescent mental health services to be reduced to eight weeks.

Scottish Conservative Health Spokesperson, Miles Briggs, said: “This provision of mental health services for young people in Lothian is nowhere near where it needs be.

“Hundreds of young people are waiting over the 18 week target every quarter in NHS Lothian to be seen by a mental health professional.

“There has been a mental health crisis for young people in Lothian for many years now and the complacency of SNP Ministers means that young people are suffering without the access to support that they need.

“The SNP must start taking the necessary actions to improve mental health provision for young people in Lothian immediately.”