Meeting of the Parliament 26 October 2022
I thank the minister for advance sight of the statement. I am sure that everyone in the chamber will be deeply concerned that Scotland has the highest suicide rate in the United Kingdom. Last year, 753 Scots took their own lives; that is 753 people who were not given the support that they needed.
I welcome the new suicide prevention strategy and action plan and, like the minister, thank every organisation, family and individual that contributed to its development. Every suicide is preventable, and we owe it to those who have lost their lives, and to their families, to make sure that Scotland’s suicide prevention plan is the very best that it can be.
Although I welcome the doubling of annual funding for suicide prevention to £2.8 million by 2025-26, it does not matter how much money we spend on developing effective suicide prevention interventions when, ultimately, we know that the most significant barrier to improving mental health nationwide is the lack of well-trained clinicians. We may have mental health interventions that work—but we lack the workforce or infrastructure to deliver them.
A strong suicide prevention strategy requires us to intervene early. Samaritans Scotland said that the bar is still far too high for accessing support when facing a crisis. More sustainable investment in crisis support is required to promote and deliver 24-hour, open access, crisis support for those in distress and crisis. Does the minister agree that the prevention strategy needs to ensure that people are supported before they face such a crisis?