Hansard

We already have link workers in practices, and this goes much further. As I have said, the multifaceted approach will make a difference not only to GPs in practices but—more important—to patients across the country. The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland supports the approach and recognises

“the role that community link workers and others in multi-disciplinary teams can play to support and improve mental health and wellbeing”.

We know that the pandemic has had and will continue to have a significant effect on the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people in Scotland. I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the work that we have progressed to improve services and support for young folk’s mental health and wellbeing.

We have provided health boards with nearly £40 million to improve their child and adolescent mental health services over the lifetime of the parliamentary session. In addition, the mental health and wellbeing primary care service will provide support, treatment and assessment across all demographics, rather than to targeted groups, so that will include children and young people. The approach will include early intervention and prevention services for a range of people, which we know are vital to preventing the escalation of mental health needs, and it will support people with severe and complex mental health needs. When more specialist input is required, specialists will be accessed by the service in partnership with the GP practice.

To work towards our ambitions for new mental health and wellbeing primary care services, £1.5 million has been made available from the mental health recovery and renewal fund. Local planning guidance has been developed and will be published tomorrow. Planning has been devolved to local groups, which are best placed to determine—through collaboration, communication and co-operation—what is required to meet the needs of local people and communities.

Although such services will play a vital role in Covid recovery by supporting and addressing mental health and wellbeing needs, which have increased significantly over the past two years, I am only too aware of the pressure that the pandemic continues to place on our front-line NHS services. Therefore, although we do not want to delay implementation, we have made it clear to stakeholders that we will work flexibly with them to support planning and avoid any additional or unnecessary pressures.

We know that, despite recent workforce expansion, demand for mental health services continues to grow. That is why we are taking steps to continue to support and grow the workforce. We have invested, but we recognise that recruitment continues to be challenging, which is why the services must be developed incrementally up to 2026 and across a number of disciplines, as I mentioned. The services must provide additionality and not replace existing capacity. The additional roles will be factored into the long-term mental health workforce plan in the first half of this parliamentary session, but we must act now to meet the growing demand for mental health support.

Our intention is that the available funding will increase significantly year on year to support implementation and will reach up to an expected £40 million per annum by 2024-25. By the end of the parliamentary session, that could be an investment of more than £100 million, which should increase the mental health workforce substantially and change how support is delivered, in a truly transformational way. It will improve the experience of support and care that is provided in primary care, through more rapid access to support in a setting that individuals know and trust.

Our investment will be further complemented by the communities mental health and wellbeing fund, which was announced in October last year and will provide £15 million in community support for adults. The fund will provide opportunities to maximise links to further support options in communities, which will enable and empower people to tap into existing community assets, support and services. The fund builds on the £15 million of funding that has been provided this year through the community mental health and wellbeing framework, which has enabled local authorities to provide more than 230 new and enhanced community-based services for children and young people and their families and carers.

I know that, regardless of our political differences, members across the chamber share our ambition to improve the nation’s mental health and wellbeing. Mental health services in primary care feature as a centrepiece in the manifestos of most of the parties that are represented in the chamber.

I look forward to the debate and to hearing the views of all in the chamber, including views on how folk can work with us to support the implementation of all this work. I take the opportunity to thank the key stakeholders, who have contributed their time and energy to the development of the approach that I have outlined. I also give my sincere thanks to those who have continued to provide essential services and support during the pandemic.

I do not support the amendments that have been lodged, although I have some sympathy for the amendment that Mr Cole-Hamilton has lodged. We will continue to recognise that there are workforce challenges, which are not unique to Scotland. In the face of unprecedented demand and challenges, we have taken action to invest in mental health services to address waiting times.