Meeting of the Parliament 30 March 2017
I, too, thank the minister for early sight of her statement. There are actions in the strategy that are to be welcomed, such as the managed clinical network for perinatal mental health; additional mental health professionals for our A and E departments, GP practices, police stations and prisons; and a commitment to young carers.
The publication of the 10-year mental health strategy was an opportunity for us to be bold and ambitious. I was hopeful that, when the Scottish Government delayed the strategy last year, it would listen to concerns that were raised by stakeholders and by the Health and Sport Committee, and that the final strategy would contain the transformative action that is required.
I am, therefore, disappointed that the Government is ignoring Scottish Labour’s plan for investment in school-based counselling and wraparound early intervention support in schools—a plan that was backed by Barnardo’s Scotland just last week—because we know that half of all mental health problems begin before the age of 15. Although it is welcome that the minister has committed to look at rejected referrals, the scope of that audit remains unclear. We are talking about 17,000 children over the past three years who have been referred to CAMHS and have waited for help, only to be turned away. Children and young people should have been at the very heart of the 10-year mental health strategy, but I see that we have to wait for a follow-up strategy on CAMHS.