GIVING mental health care parity with physical treatment is easily said but not being done, according to a growing body of evidence. The SNP Government has paid plenty of lip service to the idea, pointing to a “joined up” approach across different sectors and to a planned increase in mental health workers deployed in GP surgeries, accident & emergency departments, prisons, and police custody suites.
However, research by the Royal College of Psychiatrists revealing that the number of consultant psychiatrists has risen by just four in five years hints at a wider malaise. That’s an increase of less than one per cent, compared to a rise of more than 20 per cent in consultants treating physical illnesses. Last week, it emerged that, in parts of Scotland, two-thirds of young people seeking mental health services waited longer than the 18-week target. The Liberal Democrats even produced figures purporting to show that some children waited up to 666 days to access treatment. Last year, The Herald revealed that seriously ill patients in Glasgow were sent away as far as Inverness because there were no available hospital beds. Combined with an underwhelming Mental Health Strategy published recently, the evidence is beginning to suggest that the Scottish Government has a considerable way to go if it is to prove that its commitment to mental health amounts to more than words.
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