Third of NHS mental health calls ring out

A third of calls to NHS 24’s mental health hub are going unanswered, prompting calls for more investment in the service.

The telephone advice and triage service, which is run by specialist nurses, was unable to answer 61,538 out of a total of 185,469 calls between March 2021 and June 2022.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats requested the figures under Freedom of Information laws after the launch of the hub in January 2020.

The party’s leader and health spokesman, Alex Cole-Hamilton, said: “When it comes to mental health, all we see from this government is broken promise after broken promise.

“In the wake of a pandemic and in the midst of a cost of living crisis, people all across this country are having to deal with enormous stress and mental anguish. Unfortunately, many people who reached out for help simply did not get it.”

The service’s first month of operation saw just a few dozen calls abandoned out of just over 2,000 received.

However, the numbers have risen drastically since.

Cole-Hamilton said the Lib Dems would invest heavily in mental health, if in government. “We would roll out mental health professionals in every GP surgery and A&E department, put more counsellors in schools and ensure that training is ramped up so that every workplace benefits from a mental health first aider,” he added.