The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Crisis line could be up and running very soon
A24-hour mental health crisis service could be operational soon with the introduction of a 24/7 crisis line ahead of the opening of a drop-in centre.
Dundee City Council leader John Alexander said he would like to see the service up-and-running “tomorrow”, but that it would take time to man the service, with partners including NHS Tayside, the Integrated Joint Board (IJB) and the third sector involved.
Mr Alexander said the model used in Edinburgh – where a phone service is manned by the mental health charity Penumbra – could be an option.
The statement came after calls from Labour councillor Michael Marra to “fast-track” the service, with Mr Marra writing to the council’s chief executive Greg Colgan to share his fears about the “gathering storm” likely to affect the mental health of thousands of young people.
Mental health campaigners believe a 24hour centre could save lives.
However, Mr Alexander was wary of rushing any service, saying the partners involved must make sure the service is fit for purpose.
He said: “Firstly, I think it is really important to recognise that there is unanimous support, so this has been agreed by Dundee City Council in its entirety.
“Every single politician that is represented on the council has agreed, and supports, a 24-hour crisis centre.
“Myself and the council’s lead on health and social care matters, councillor Ken Lynn, have been vocal supporters, but also have had meetings of late with people such as Kate Bell, who coordinates and leads the work for NHS Tayside, Vicky Irons, who heads up and leads the IJB, and also the chief executive of Dundee City Council as well.”
“So we are as keen as anybody to see the development of a facility.
“I think also it’s important to say that it’s a test of change, so the model that exists in Edinburgh, they have a 24/7 phone line, it’s not a drop-in facility, you don’t turn up at the door and access crisis facilities like that.
“You access a phone number and then there’s a bit of triage to identify what services you actually need.
“And it might well be at the crisis centre, or it might be at clinical, or it might be something else”.
He said: “I don’t see any reason that we couldn’t have a more transitional arrangement to test some of the approaches that have been developed in Edinburgh and elsewhere, and to see how it works in a Dundee context.”
He added: “We all want to see the crisis centre and we want to see it tomorrow, but we’ve also got to acknowledge that the people who are trying to deliver this are also dealing with the consequences of Covid-19.”
He continued: “We need to get it right, but we need to do it quickly and make sure that we’re not taking too long to get it to implementation.
“We need the IJB, the NHS and third sector partners to all play their part in making that a reality, so I can bang the drum as hard as I want, but I’m just one part of it, we need all of the players to play an active role.
“Councillor Michael Marra and councillor Ken Lynn were in a meeting recently with NHS Tayside on mental health and were both saying the exact same thing, so I don’t think there is any ambiguity about our ambition or what we want to see, it’s just making sure that we’re pushing it as hard as we can.”
When asked if a service such as a 24/7 phone line could be set up in weeks, he said: “The number of partners you’re looking at, I wouldn’t want to necessarily put a direct timeframe on it, but I think it would be within the realm of a few months you’d be looking at to set that up, because you’ve got to think about practicalities, job descriptions and getting a facility that does it justice up-and-running.
“But, absolutely within the window of a few months, I would hope that we’ve got something in play that actually does it justice – what our calls have been for the last period of time.”
A progress report on plans for a 24/7 crisis centre will be given to the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership Integration Joint Board next month.