Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2023
On 12 May 2022, I raised the plight of my constituent, Ryan Caswell, at First Minister’s question time. At that point, Ryan had been a delayed discharge patient who was resident in the Carseview centre, the mental health unit in Dundee, for two years and three months. Ryan has complex care needs, including autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities. Carseview is a deeply inappropriate setting for him. The First Minister described my constituent’s case as “unacceptable” and said that she would look into it. However, 370 days have passed and Ryan remains an in-patient at Carseview. In the words of Ryan’s mother Irene:
“It has been 3 years, 3 months and 16 days. We are still waiting for the care and treatment to start. We have no idea how this will pan out, but Ryan cannot remain at risk where he is.”
No end in sight, no solution offered, no hope given: Ryan has become another example of what the children’s commissioner rightly identified as a young person who has been “absolutely failed” by Nicola Sturgeon. She, and her health secretary Humza Yousaf, did nothing. It has been another year of suffering and pain for Ryan and of anxiety and distress for his parents Irene and Paul, whose lives are drifting on, so much less than they should and could be.
The reality of mental health care in Tayside is worlds away from the description that the minister provided in her opening speech and the amendment that she lodged. In the past five years, 345 lives have been lost to suicide in Tayside. It was relentless campaigning from bereaved and desperate local people that resulted in the Strang report of 2020, which was heavy with urgent recommendations.
The update report of 2021 by Dr Strang has been described to me as
“the worst report in Scottish public life”,
because responsible local bodies comprehensively misrepresented what was happening. That debacle resulted in the appointment of the independent oversight and assurance group, which reported at the start of this year. We have had report after report after report—endless paper—but scant change for those who need it.
In the absence of any ministerial action, I led a members’ business debate on 8 February this year, during which the then Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care promised an improvement plan for NHS Tayside mental health services by the end of March. That plan is now the latest on the groaning shelves of Ninewells hospital.
There has so far been no response from the Government to that report. Has the minister read it and, crucially, what will she do to ensure that the latest targets that it sets out are finally delivered? Will she accept accountability, given that it was commissioned by the Government after Labour pressure, or will Ryan’s plight once again fall foul of the incompetence of this Government?
The chronic issues with mental health services in NHS Tayside have been described to me by the most senior clinicians in Scotland as
“the canary in the coal mine”
of overstretched mental health services across the country.
Every member should be concerned about the situation that is faced by the people of Dundee and Tayside. The minister said that if someone needs help, they should ask. The people of Dundee have been asking for years. Will she actually do something about it?
16:26