Hansard

I am grateful to the Government for making time for this debate, because Scotland still faces a national mental health crisis. It has been defined as a crisis by the chamber on no fewer than two occasions through its backing of amendments in my name and the name of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. That mental health crisis is experienced on front lines right across our public sector. In our schools, prisons, hospitals and GP surgeries, it is characterised by the same things: unmet needs, crises that could have been averted if early warning signs had been acted on sufficiently, and people facing monstrous waiting times.

We know that there is an acute mental health problem in Scotland, and that one in four people will suffer from a serious mental health condition at some point in their life. Just like physical health, mental health and how it is maintained and falters has a huge impact on everyone’s life; and just like physical health, when small problems are not spotted or treated, they become acute. That is why mental health should be regarded with the same priority as physical health. Carol Mochan was absolutely right when she said that we would not expect somebody to wait a year with a severe physical injury. Mental health should be prioritised in the same way, and Scottish Liberal Democrats have long fought for that. Such a fight secured more than £145 million for mental health in the last budget.

The pandemic has taken its toll. It has separated us from loved ones, disrupted our livelihoods and made us worry about the very fabric of our communities. It is no wonder, then, that the pandemic has left so many of us with our mental health taking a turn for the worse. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has reported that people are twice as likely to experience anxiety, depression and high levels of psychological stress as they were before Covid-19. The Scottish Association for Mental Health found that eight in 10 GPs think that we are on the cusp of this new hidden pandemic and that mental ill health is set to increase.

Novelist Charlotte Brontë once wrote:

“life is a battle: may we all be enabled to fight it well!”

Despite the growing need for access to mental health services and the valiant efforts of our healthcare services, those battling with their mental health in this country are not enabled to fight that battle well. Twenty per cent of adults who have sought help for their mental health were not seen within the 18-week waiting period. In 2014, the SNP set itself a target of mental health waiting times that has never been achieved. Furthermore, research that was conducted by my party—I referenced this in my intervention on Kevin Stewart—found that hundreds of children have had to wait more than two years to receive first-line treatment from child and adolescent mental health services. As I said earlier, one young person had to wait seven years for treatment to begin. That is a scandal.

Opening up about one’s mental health is a vulnerable and remarkably brave act, regardless of where it takes place, and it should be met with reassurance and, most importantly, help. People should have to tell their story only once. Primary care providers such as GP surgeries are so often used as a place to seek such help, but already existing pressures on staff have been exacerbated by the pandemic, which has moved appointments online, shortened them and reduced the amount of face time that people can have together. Those factors make it even harder for people to open up and for staff to spot warning signs.

It is crystal clear that there needs to be radical action to tackle the issue and to ensure that everyone has access to consistent treatment if and when they need it. Although I welcome progress where it has been made and the ambition that has been set by the Government—we talked about the ambition to clear CAMHS waiting lists by 2023; my party’s campaigns have been listened to—the policies that the Government currently has on offer simply do not go far enough. I am concerned that we may seek to artificially meet targets such as the CAMHS one by parking young people on medication.

That is why the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for more mental health professional places in primary care providers—we agree with the Labour amendment on siting in GP surgeries those mental health care professionals, who should be not just link workers but people who can offer talking therapies on site—for a mental health first-aider strategy to be implemented in every workplace and for an increase in the number of walk-in services at mental health emergency services.

There is a desperate need to train more staff—of that there is no doubt. When surveyed, almost half of students said that they experienced serious psychological issues and that they are not getting help for them, yet one in eight specialist positions in child and adolescent mental health services currently lie vacant. That is why we have previously called for doubling the number of specialist psychiatrists to answer that deeply unmet need.

We must make sure that across Scotland we have a large and strong workforce to ensure the quality of services delivered to anyone, wherever they are. We know that there are issues of rurality that compound the problem. We also need to do more to retain the staff that we have, by making sure that they are not overloaded, that they have good working conditions, that they know when their breaks are coming and that their wellbeing is protected. We know the impact that those things can have.

I have told the chamber before of my constituent Andy Cunningham, who is a paramedic in emergency care who talked very bravely about the time he realised that he needed help. When fishing another suicide victim out of a river, he felt entirely empty and devoid of feeling, and he realised that he was struggling. He put his hand up and received some help, but he is one of the lucky ones. We owe our emergency care and front-line primary care staff, whose mental health is suffering as well, an immense debt of gratitude.

The NHS is our most vital service. It is life saving, but it is on life support. Nowhere is that more evident than on the waiting lists for first-line mental health treatment.

I move amendment S6M-02747.2, to insert at end:

“; notes the warnings from frontline professionals, and the organisations that represent them, that those working in primary care settings have seen an impact on their own mental health and wellbeing due to the work they have provided during the COVID-19 pandemic; believes that retention is as important as recruitment in ensuring greater capacity for mental health services, and considers, therefore, that the introduction of an urgent Burnout Prevention Strategy could assist in easing the pressure on staff and reducing the long waiting times experienced by patients.”