Hansard

Members will be well aware of this week's coverage of my daughter Suzy's current problems with an eating disorder. I therefore intend to talk principally about that aspect of mental health.

Problems arise in accessing support in the early stages and long-term support back in the community. I accept that those problems apply to many forms of mental illness in Scotland. I am not attacking the Government, but I am highlighting to the Parliament an area of great concern.

The reason that Suzy and I have gone public is that her colleagues who were in hospital with her asked me, as a member of the Parliament, to do my best to raise awareness of the plight of sufferers and their families. Needless to say, I am very proud of Suzy's bravery.

Eating disorders are not fashionable fads or an outcome of current diet plans. They are a form of mental illness that is fuelled by depression and anxiety, and often triggered by events that have been bottled up for a long time. Eating disorders are life-threatening illnesses and the problem is that they are increasing dramatically in Scotland.

The victims are withdrawn and isolated, and suffer moods of despair and loss of self-esteem, which lead to a risk of self-harm and—too often—to suicide. I do not pretend to be an expert, but the difficulties that my daughter and my family have faced in trying to deal with the matter will perhaps highlight some of the issues and give support to sufferers and their families and—I hope—gain a commitment to future action.

On 8 October 1999, the Minister for Health and Community Care, Susan Deacon, stated:

"Mental health is as much a part of good health as physical well-being. The Scottish Executive sees mental health as a top priority and is committed to providing high quality support and services and to fostering positive attitudes to those with mental health needs."

My main concern is that the disease is recognised early. One of the problems is that many sufferers deny that the condition exists. The longer the delay in getting access to medical assessment, the greater the risk of dramatic loss of body weight. That leads to physical breakdown and slower thinking processes as the disease takes over.

My daughter's case is fairly typical, but the truth is that there was insufficient support available to her in the short term because of the extended waiting list to gain access to the few experts and their professional teams. Those people's work load is becoming unmanageable. I am afraid that that is one of the causes of the delay in treatment.

Once access to assessment is attained, there is another problem, as there are so few dedicated residential units in Scotland. I accept that some hospitals place patients in general psychiatric wards, but the only dedicated residential unit in Scotland, the Priory hospital, ensures that those with eating disorders are treated with no distraction of staff to other patients with differing and pressing needs.

From the time of my daughter's declaration of the problem, we struggled to get her assessed. Again, demand outstripped supply wherever we looked. She was eventually assessed by an Edinburgh consultant, who told her that if she was not eating by Easter, she would be dead. That is shocking, but it is a fact of life that we have to address in many conditions. That trigger helped her to make a decision to get more help. She went downhill and came home, but luckily our general practitioner managed to get an early appointment with an Aberdeen hospital. The treatment available in a mixed ward in that hospital was helpful, but limited. We are grateful that the consultant was prepared to recommend her for a place, funded by the local health board, in the Priory hospital. That is a model of partnership that I would like to see rolled out throughout the health service. I accept that that admission was based totally on her clinical requirements at that time and that all such decisions must be made on that basis. The priorities are tight because of the difficulty in accessing resource.

When my daughter left hospital and regained her body weight, she required access to day care therapy. Although that was available from the hospital in Glasgow, it could be provided only if she stayed there. We are lucky that we have some access to that in Aberdeen, but that is not the case throughout Scotland. Many people do not live close enough to facilities to obtain that support.

We should pick up the fact that there are problems among more people, not all of whom are girls or young. Accessing early assessment is also a problem. There is a lack of dedicated residential units. Our aspiration should be to establish regional units where access may be dealt with more evenly and fairly. We should also ensure a seamless extension of hospital treatment to the community.

Other members have expressed well the issues of stigma. I praise Margaret Jamieson for her speech.

I thank The Sunday Times for its sensitive handling of the issue and I thank the other newspapers and journals for their support. I hope that they will continue to deal with the issue in a non-sensational manner. As others have said, the problem is serious. It needs education, not sensation.

Since Sunday, I have been contacted on all forms of communication from all over Scotland by sufferers, people at universities who are trying to support students with problems and therapists who want to register. I know that other avenues in the media have expressed a desire to continue to raise awareness of the issues. The sufferers, their families and I are grateful for that support. I hope that, in time, that will extend to others who have mental health difficulties.

I hope that the Executive is listening and that mental health is a priority. I hope that we develop early clinical assessment, quicker decision making and access to specialist units. In the first instance, I ask the Executive to assist in developing a database that will highlight the scale of mental health problems and the facilities that are available in Scotland.

I have brought the issue to the chamber as a politician, but I highlight the issue in a non-political way, on behalf of all sufferers and their families.