Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Youths’ long wait for mental health treatment
Stephen stands strong with charities making appeal
More than half the young people waiting for mental health treatment in Lanarkshire have gone over four months without being seen.
New figures described as “deeply troubling” by charities also revealed that more than 1000 youngsters under the age of 18 across the region sought out support for mental health in the final three months of last year alone – with almost 400 of them refused treatment.
The stats were highlighted in a new report by Public Health Scotland released earlier this month.
NHS Lanarkshire is trailing the national average in meeting the 18-week target, with 51.2 per cent of those currently waiting now past 18 weeks, compared to 46.9 per cent nationally.
The figures showed 137 young people have been waiting more than a year for an appointment.
In total, 1044 under 18s were referred to the health board from October to December, with 660 approved for treatment.
Surprisingly, given the events of 2020, the figures were actually down on the corresponding period in 2019, when 1117 children were referred overall and 769 approved for treatment.
A total of 70 per cent of youngsters were seen within 18 weeks during the same period.
The figures have been greeted with concern by mental health charities, who fear the backlog will continue to grow because of the coronavirus situation.
Jo Anderson of the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) said: “Scotland’s mental health services were struggling before the pandemic, and these figures demonstrate once again that we need a radical new plan.
“Young people deserve the right to get help the first time they ask, without fearing that they will be turned away. And the need for quick access to psychological wellbeing support has never been greater.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition warned: “These latest figures are deeply troubling and point to a highly challenging environment for both our young people and our mental health services.
“We welcome the fact that the Scottish Government is intending to invest more than £1.1 billion in mental health services overall, but significantly greater funding is needed to address the current crisis facing our children and young people.
“While referrals are beginning to return to pre-lockdown levels, it is vital that children and families are provided with the support they so desperately need, especially given the impact of the pandemic on mental health.
“The fact that more than 1500 of our most vulnerable children have been waiting more than a year for treatment in this respect is deeply disturbing.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the Scottish Government had set a goal of having 90 per cent of referrals seen within 18 weeks for treatment.
More than 11,000 children across the whole country are currently waiting to be seen – the worst figures on record.
Clare Haughey, the government’s mental health minister, said: ““It is encouraging that we have seen a significant increase in performance this quarter, which demonstrates the priority we have placed on Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) as we move through phases of recovery from the pandemic.
“CAMHS staffing has also increased, and we will continue to expand the workforce by creating new posts in this area.
“However, we want to go further as long waits are unacceptable. Our Transition and Recovery Plan sets out a number of actions to progress improvement on access to CAMHS and psychological therapies, backed by significant investment.
“The £120 million we have announced for our Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund is the single largest investment in mental health in the history of devolution. It will prioritise our ongoing work to improve specialist CAMHS services, address long waiting times, and clear waiting list backlogs.”
Emer Shepherd, general manager, specialist children’s services for NHS Lanarkshire,
added: “CAMHS in Lanarkshire have experienced a rise in the number of unscheduled care/ urgent referrals in the period since the first Covid-19 lockdown.
“Responding to these referrals quickly has led to longer waits for routine referrals. We hope to run additional clinics in the near future to target the longest waiting patients and also plan to use any new investment to boost frontline staff numbers.”
Our search is back on for all those local heroes, volunteers and good news stories to help raise spirits and celebrate our amazing communities
For generations, the Advertiser’s team has been moved and amazed by the achievements and resilience of the people of Airdrie and Coatbridge during the highs and lows that life inevitably brings.
During this ongoing time of uncertainty, where every day seems to bring new reasons to be concerned, we want to take the time to celebrate the amazing people going above and beyond in our area – as well as the good news stories that are perhaps being overshadowed.
That is why we are relaunching our feature, Celebrating Our Community, to highlight your local heroes’ inspiring acts, big and small, as well as the positive, uplifting, things happening amidst the outbreak of coronavirus in our area.
New family additions, charitable achievements and heartwarming tales are all welcomed as part of our new feature, which we will be running during this period and beyond.
●Help raise the spirits of other readers and enter your local heroes or positive stories by emailing news@airdrieandcoatbridgeadvertiser. co.uk and tell us about your inspirational person or good news.
Lanarkshire man Stephen Beattie may have a learning disability, but he understands much more about his entitlement to equality – and the right to have a voice – than the bullies who have used theirs to hurl hurtful names at him over the years.
Proud Stephen, 50, is among the inspirational individuals with a learning disability and autistic people who are standing strong alongside three Scottish charities to call for the appointment of a commissioner to champion their human rights.
He hopes that his story – and the important role he is playing in persuading political leaders to include in their Scottish Parliamentary Election manifestos a promise to appoint a commissioner to speak up for people like him – will be a catalyst for real change.
Stephen, who grew up with his four brothers at his back, knows that not all people who have a learning disability can claim to have had the happy childhood that he enjoyed.
“In my mind, I was just like all the other people going to school,” he explained.
“I was just like everybody else. I made friends and we all got on with each other.”
With PE and home economics among his favourite subjects, Stephen as a schoolboy loved to roll up his sleeves and give his all to practical tasks.
On leaving school, Stephen bucked the trend. Although around only four per cent of people who have a learning disability are in employment – compared to 45 per cent of physically disabled people in Scotland – Stephen was able to follow his brothers into his dad’s demolition business.
“At that time, I was too young to get out on site, knocking down old buildings,” he said.
“So, I worked with my dad and my brothers on other things to do with demolition. I enjoyed that.”
Stephen also enrolled as a student at Coatbridge and Cumbernauld colleges – a confidence-boosting experience that equipped him with valuable life skills that allow him to live independently on his own today.
It was during a night out with friends at a disco held in a local club that Stephen became introduced to the work of ENABLE Scotland.
“I didn’t know at the time, but ENABLE ran the disco,” he explained.
“I had just bought a round of drinks and was sitting down when a lady came over. I didn’t know her then. Hollie worked with ENABLE Scotland and was starting up another group and was looking for people to join.”
Stephen became an active and enthusiastic member of the charity, and four times a year represents the views of his local Cumbernauld group at national ACE meetings.
His involvement in Our Voice Our Rights is not Stephen’s first foray into actively campaigning for positive change.
Through the high-profile #Bethechange campaign, Stephen – who has himself been the target of cruel bullies – found a way to stand up to those who mock people like him simply because they have a learning disability.
ENABLE Scotland is empowering its members to challenge bullying in the bold, highly-charged campaign that, at its launch, propelled their refusal to tolerate the act on to station concourses and main traffic thoroughfares.
With two-thirds of young people who have learning disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorders having been bullied, the campaign focuses on promoting change through understanding to challenge people’s perceptions and break down barriers.
“People can’t just turn around and say and do things like that. It’s not right,” said Stephen, who has been involved in a number of other campaigns to end stigma, isolation and discrimination.
Those campaigns include In Safe Hands?, which insists that all children in Scotland have the right to be safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and to be included – and, when they go to school for the day, have the right to expect that they’ll be in safe hands.
Yet, in 2018, there were at least 2674 incidents of restraint and seclusion in Scottish schools – a statistic ENABLE says is unacceptable.
In Safe Hands? calls on the government to: issue stronger guidance; roll out positive support strategies in schools through skilled staff; introduce a duty of candour around restraint and seclusion in all schools; and strengthen transparency and accountability.
Stephen was also a campaign champion for #ENABLETHEVOTE, which set out to make the voting process and politicians significantly more accessible to people who have a learning disability.
It worked across the political spectrum, empowering people who have a learning disability to have their say, influence the debate on the issues that matter to them, make informed choices about who to vote for, and increase the number of people who have a learning disability who vote.
More than 80 per cent of people who engaged with the resultdriven, dynamic campaign used their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary Election in 2016, and 91 percent exercised their right vote in the local council elections the following year.
ENABLE Scotland and its members, including Stephen, are now looking forward to further improving on these more than marginal gains when polling stations open in May.
“Everybody should get their turn to speak about what they want to say,” insists Stephen, who clearly endorses the purpose behind each of the passionate campaigns in which he’s been involved.
Of the call for a commissioner who would act as an advocate for people who have a learning disability and autistic people, he said: “I hope it works out, and lets everybody get to do what they want to do, and get the chance to say what they want to say.”
Although Stephen admits he’s found the challenges of lockdown particularly tough, he has taken steps to stay positive by joining a weekly walking group, through which he has met new friends.
And when the restrictions are finally eased, he’s most looking forward to a return to human interaction.
“Everybody likes a friend,” said Stephen.
People can’t just turn around and say and do things like that .. it’s not right Stephen Beattie
“Everybody likes to see them and talk to them and be happy with them. You want to go out and meet your family and friends and do whatever you were doing before all this happened.”
Asked how his friends would describe him, modest Stephen says he’s just like everyone else.
But ENABLE Scotland’s regional co-ordinator for campaigns and activism, Charlotte Scott, told him: “You are a really good listener. You pay a lot of attention. And you’re always watching and listening, and making sure everybody gets a chance to be heard.”
And with those admirable qualities, there could be no greater advocate for a campaign to turn up the volume of the voices of people who have a learning disability and autistic people than Stephen Beattie.
To join ENABLE Scotland and find out more about the campaign, visit www. enable.org.uk, email enabledirect@ enable.org.uk or call 0300 0200 101.