Tayside: 93,000 given drugs for mental health

A STAGGERING 93,000 people in Tayside are prescribed a medicine for a mental health problem, 26,508 of which are prescribed 12 or more medicines.

Meanwhile, in Dundee, one in four people are on antidepressants.

Health chiefs have approved the final plan on how they hope to transform mental health services across Tayside.

The NHS Tayside board members have approved the “Living Life Well” plan which details how mental health services will be transformed over the next five years.

This comes after an independent inquiry published its findings back in February and concluded there had been a loss in trust in the region’s mental health services.

The inquiry made 51 recommendations and said this trust needed to be rebuilt with staff, patients and the wider community.

The ambition of the new plan is to make sure everyone has equal access to support, and to ensure those with mental health disorders, substance misuse issues or learning disabilities experience the same mortality and physical health as the whole population and to make sure they are able to achieve education, employment and social goals.

This new redesigned service will be “needs-led” and “person-centred” to make sure the person with mental health issues is able to see the right professional at the right time and place.

The report states: “Mental health and wellbeing has a profound impact on quality of life.

“This strategy advocates a holistic approach and is fundamentally about achieving better mental health and wellbeing for all, where people in Tayside can live a full life free from stigma and discrimination.”

Work will be done to try to reduce the prevalence of common mental health problems through social prescribing and by promoting self-management of the condition with options for treating mental health illnesses aside from taking medication. Despite the high numbers on medication, the report details that medicines do not work for everyone.

Work will also be done to improve suicide prevention by making sure those struggling with suicidal thoughts are given the right help first time round, and to ensure support is available 24 hours a day, including at weekends.

For children and young people, they themselves as the patient will be put at the centre of planning their care, and a new perinatal and infant mental health team will be introduced in Tayside in 2021.

Crisis and urgent care will also be reviewed, wards will be improved to make sure they are safe and therapeutic, and treatment for those with emotionally unstable personality disorders will be improved.

A range of measures will also be introduced to improve staffing and staff morale in NHS Tayside’s mental health service after a culture of bullying was exposed.

The report states bullying and harassment will not be tolerated with conflict resolution to be improved.

More support will be offered to junior doctors and consultants on call, training will be improved for junior doctors and more will be done to attract trainee psychiatrists to Tayside. Furthermore, GPs and patients will be more informed on what mental health conditions can be managed in the community, and what conditions require hospital care.