THE SNP is facing claims of hypocrisy after its Westminster health spokesman backed a campaign calling for increased spending on mental health services despite Holyrood ministers cutting the proportion of the NHS budget allocated to treat the conditions.
Philippa Whitford, the MP for Central Ayrshire and former NHS surgeon, has signed up to a cross-party Equality 4 Mental Health campaign. It also calls for the same right to treatment for patients with mental health conditions as those with physical ailments, and states that too many mentally ill people, particularly children, are being shunted around the country in search of a bed.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats pointed to figures provided by the Scottish Government which showed that the proportion of the NHS budget north of the border allocated to mental health had fallen to under 12 per cent in the last financial year, compared to almost 13 per cent in 2009/10.
Meanwhile, a legal right to treatment within 12 weeks, brought in by the SNP in 2012, does not apply to mental health conditions. The most recent figures show that across Scotland, around a quarter of young people who need access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health services are not seen within a target of 18 weeks, with no specialist inpatient beds north of Dundee. For psychological therapies, 81.6 per cent of people start treatment within 18 weeks, against a target of 90 per cent.
Jim Hume, the Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "The SNP are saying one thing at Westminster, doing the opposite at Holyrood and hoping that no one joins the dots. With some vulnerable young people having to wait more than a year for treatments, this simply is not good enough.
"The SNP have the power they need to make most of the changes that the Equality 4 Mental Health campaign want to see. They need to put their money where their mouth is on mental health."
Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish Government's mental health minister, said £100 million was being invested to extend capacity and improve access to mental health services, with demand increasing dramatically.
He added: "Yes, there are challenges, but we have also made great progress. Waiting times have decreased significantly, we have better data to drive improvement, and the suicide rate has fallen by 17.8 per cent over the last decade. This doesn’t mean we’re complacent. More progress is needed and we continue to work with health boards to attract more staff and bring waiting times down further."
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