The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Criticism of £300m mental health care plan
More than £300 million of Scottish Government cash will be invested in improving mental health care over the next five years.
The funding will help implement the 40 measures outlined in the Government’s 10-year mental health strategy.
It has been branded a “missed opportunity” by opposition MSPs at Holyrood, while mental health campaigners at the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) claimed it “lacks the ambition and investment that Scotland deserves”.
Maureen Watt, Scotland’s first dedicated mental health minister, said the new blueprint was “not the end of a process”, stressing it is “just the beginning”.
She told MSPs mental health services had changed “dramatically” over the last decade but there is an “ambition to go further”. Included in the strategy is work to improve the physical health of people with mental health problems, as those with long-term problems can die 15 to 20 years prematurely.
To tackle this, Ms Watt said she is “committed to ensuring that services such as screening and smoking cessation are supported to help improve participation rates for those with mental health problems”.
New powers over employment programmes being devolved to Scotland will see the Scottish Government support people to find and stay in work, as not having a job can be “the biggest inequality that people with mental health problems can face”.
A new 10-year strategy for child and adolescent health and wellbeing will be developed, covering both physical and mental health.
Ms Watt also vowed the Government would ensure every child “has access to emotional and mental wellbeing support in school”.
Billy Watson, chief executive of SAMH, said the charity is pleased some of its recommendations had been accepted, but added: “We are disappointed it lacks the ambition and investment that Scotland deserves, especially for children and young people.”
Labour inequalities spokeswoman Monica Lennon insisted children and young people “should have been at the heart of this 10-year mental health strategy, not an afterthought”.