Mental health such an important issue
develop local services, to stop the postcode lottery, to train GPs to recognise early warning signs and to ensure shorter waiting lists for those affected and their families.
I have, therefore, written to the Scottish Government mental health minister to reflect the debate we had and the recommendations made going forward.
I am keen to support progress and best practice in the field. spokesperson.
At the event, it was announced that the UK mental health minister will also take on ministerial duties for suicide prevention.
I will be focusing upon this issue, across our constituency and Scotland, as the statistics are startling where lives are being lost to suicide.
This has already been highlighted by our East Kilbride News and I was also delighted to meet with the local charity FAMS (Families and Friends Affected by Murder and Suicide) this week, who do wonderful volunteering, prevention and support work for those affected and their families.
My office can provide further details for anyone who wishes to get in touch with this charity or to speak with me about these issues.
The health and social care select committee on which I sit is publishing an important inquiry report on prison mental health care and treatment this week.
Recommendations for improvement in both services and funding are likely to be made, including increased access to mental health services within prisons and improved care of cognitive disorders such as dementia in the older prison population.
Prison is, of course, a place of punishment alongside rehabilitation but access to healthcare is a human right and we must ensure that individuals can see GPs, specialists and address mental health issues which may lead to reoffending.
Our HMRC remains under threat from closure by the Tory Government and I have been lodging further questions to the UK Government to challenge this decision and the devastating impact it would have upon our East Kilbride economy.
It is a misguided decision that pays no respect to our constituency or its skilled workforce and I continue to fight it every step of the way. On a brighter note, I was absolutely delighted to attend Greenhills Parish Church at the weekend to present the wonderful Susan Whitehead, who reached her 101st birthday this year, with her Early Day Motion that I lodged in Parliament to celebrate her contribution to Greenhills and East Kilbride.
Susan is an absolute inspiration and I was pleased to meet with her and her family and to present her motion in church alongside Rev John Brewster.
It was an insightful and spiritual service which I and the parishioners also thoroughly enjoyed.
There was consensus within the debate that across the UK, much more must be done...