At this week’s First Minister’s Questions, Sarah Murphy MS (Lab, Bridgend) asked about initiatives in the Bridgend area around mental health and ending the stigmas associated with it.
Work is ongoing to create a single point of access for services and she praised the work of local charitable organisations to make a difference. However, she wanted to stress the importance of ensuring that the whole range of mental health disorders is recognised and destigmatised.
The First Minister said that funding for the Time to Change programme has been extended and mental health remains the single largest area of spending within the Welsh NHS as a whole. An additional £50million is being invested next year, rising to an extra £90million in 2024-25.
On some specific examples of progress, the First Minister noted the opening of a new mother and baby unit in Swansea Bay Health Board (which Bridgend used to be a part of).
While additional spending on mental health was welcomed, there’s the matter of delivering results.
Tom Giffard MS (Con, South Wales West) noted that 63% of young people referred to the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board have to wait over four weeks for their first appointment. The pandemic will have had a particularly hard impact on younger people, so what were the Welsh Government doing to cut CAMHS waiting lists in Bridgend?
The First Minister stressed the importance of earlier intervention with younger people:
“….for most young people who need help as they grow up through adolescence, it….direct access services – provided by third sector organisations, school counselling services, sometimes by online services that young people can simply access for themselves – that have the greatest possibility of intervening early in a problem that somebody might be experiencing, that don’t have the stigma of formal mental health services associated with them, and that’s where….the greater investment by the Welsh Government has been concentrated during the coronavirus crisis.”
– First Minister, Mark Drakeford
Luke Fletcher MS (Plaid, South Wales West) highlighted the work of men’s sheds – some of the first of which started in the Bridgend area – but they were now facing financial problems due to increased referrals. He and Huw Irranca-Davies MS (Lab, Ogmore) have written to the Deputy Minister for Mental Health to express their concerns. What assurances could the First Minister give on financial support for organisations like Men’s Sheds Cymru?
The First Minister described the Men’s Sheds movement as a “remarkable success, growing from very local and enthusiastic individuals to a movement”. Men are particularly vulnerable to issues such as suicide at different points in their lives and the organisation provides mutual support. The Welsh Government can offer assistance – usually through grants allocated to other organisations – and are keen to do so.
