Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MENTAL HEALTH CALLS FOR HELP SWAMPING 999
Emergency plea every 3 minutes
NHS call centres are being swamped by pleas for help from people with mental health problems – with one call coming in every three minutes.
The 999 and 111 emergency phone numbers jointly received 181,272 mental health calls last year.
That’s up 44 per cent in just two years.
The calls are being made by people suffering from conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, postnatal depression and bi-polar disorder.
And the new stats from NHS Digital show that calls peak over the weekend, with more than a third made on either a Saturday or Sunday when other support services are closed.
The mental health charity Mind blames the worrying rise in emergency calls on a lack of funding for early intervention services. Leila Reyburn, the charity’s policy and campaigns manager, said: “A mental health crisis is an emergency just like a physical health emergency.
“People in crisis could be suicidal, self-harming or experiencing psychosis.
“We want them to be getting help before they reach crisis point and need support from the emergency services.”
Former health minister and Lib Dem Norman Lamb added: “These figures lay bare the scale of the mental health crisis. Many of these people will
be in a state of severe distress, but too often they will be told that there is no support available.
“The new Health Secretary must make it his priority to develop better mental health provision especially on evenings and weekends.
“NHS call handlers must also be given the skills and training they need to provide the right assistance.”
The Sunday Mirror’s Time To Change campaign is fighting to end discrimination against people with mental health conditions.
The Government plans to have a specialist mental health worker in every A&E by the end of March 2021.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said an extra £1billion of funding is being ploughed into mental health services over the next three years.