Meeting of the Parliament 06 January 2015
I welcome the minister to his new role and welcome the tone that he struck in opening the debate. Broadly speaking, it has been a constructive debate.
I will touch on a number of key areas, the first of which is stigma, which has been mentioned by several members. I note the rather stark figures that are contained in the briefing that has been provided to us by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland. A quarter of people surveyed had experienced a mental health problem at some time, but almost half the people who were surveyed said that
“if they were experiencing mental health problems they ‘wouldn’t want people knowing about it’”.
The briefing goes on to say that one in six people said that
“they would find it difficult to talk to someone with a mental health problem”
and that
“Only 82% of people said that they thought people with mental health problems should have the same rights as anyone else.”
That is troubling for anyone to read.
When we talk about one in four people being affected by a mental health problem, let us not beat about the bush. That means that 30-odd members of this Parliament could be affected by a mental health condition at some stage in their life.
Most of us will have somebody in our networks of family and friends who is experiencing, has experienced or will experience mental ill-health, so it is our responsibility to respond to that not just as parliamentarians and politicians, but as people who have loved ones who are likely to be affected. Linda Fabiani made the point that it is not the responsibility only of the health service or even, necessarily, of social care services, but of everyone to ensure good mental health.
It is worth noting that the length of time for treatment for a mental condition will vary from person to person because each individual, by their nature, will experience mental health conditions in different ways. I do not think that we need new legislation on this—the minister highlighted that it is already in legislation—but it is important that mental health receives priority treatment. I believe that that is down to attitude as much as it is to any form of legislation.
If a person breaks his or her leg, we can roughly gauge the time that will be needed before they can have the cast taken off and before they will be able to walk again. However, for a mental health condition it is less easy to predict exactly at what point the individual will no longer require treatment. That bears remembering when we are talking about the kinds of treatment that are being offered.
In terms of negative influences, it is worth noting that briefings that we have received refer to the impact of welfare reform on mental health—certainly those from Inclusion Scotland and the mental health alliance do so—in particular for people who already suffer from significant mental health conditions, but also on people who find their anxiety and stress increasing, which has an impact on their mental health. That impact is being documented by a range of organisations across Scotland. We must accept that external factors impact on the ability of an individual to enjoy good mental health and to recover from a situation that has caused their mental health to deteriorate.
Finally, I want to touch on something positive from a local perspective. I noted in The Press and Journal in October that the Care Inspectorate gave a fantastic rating of “excellent” to the service that is provided by VSA at its facility in Westerton Crescent in Aberdeen, which switched in February 2014 from being a care home to being a housing support service for individuals who have mental health conditions. A lot of positive work is going on there, and I hope to visit the facility soon. It is worth recognising the strong role that the voluntary sector plays in ensuring that people with mental health conditions get the best support, as required.