Debate: Together for Mental Health Annual Report 2013-14

16:52
 Janet Finch-Saunders

I welcome this report. I suppose, as an Assembly Member, and as a member of the health committee, I’m representing parents who come in with issues around their children, families with older people with dementia, and basically representing a whole background of issues. I suppose I look at reports and think, ‘Well, this is an excellent, well-written report, but how is that going to, sort of, effect change to some of the concerns that are raised with me on what is becoming now a more than frequent basis?’ A recent survey showed that, in Wales, only 33.4% of mental health patients felt that, in 2014, they were able to access the advice, treatment and support that they required, and I personally feel that nobody’s level of care or treatment should be defined by the condition they have, where they live or how old they are.
 
CAMHS have been mentioned here today—adolescents and younger people. Of late, I've become more primarily concerned with those issues, because I am having considerably more representations now. I know that Darren Millar very ably put some points across earlier as regards access to facilities. I am very disappointed, and I actually felt some anguish myself, when we actually have an all-singing, all-dancing facility in north Wales, to be told by some very distraught parents, who saw their child hospitalised to save her life, that they didn't qualify. I would ask the Minister here today—. I've asked for an investigation there with Betsi Cadwaladr, but, by ’eck, if they don't qualify, I surely don't know who does. And one person is one person too many.
 
Kirsty Williams very ably mentioned concerns about self-harm in younger people, and only yesterday I had someone present who has lived with five years of somebody with very severe autism, who is now 18, and the parents themselves are facing severe hardship and anguish because there are no facilities, and they’ve received no support for someone who is now 18. So, there are some gaps. There are people falling through the net. For me, I want to make sure that this report, or any of the other reports—. I'll just mention that, on one of the pages, it mentions various other strategies, and they all, technically, are meant to cross-reference. Well, I can tell you, when we've taken evidence in this committee and other committees sometimes there are that many strategies and that many reports that they actually conflict with each other, so I want the Minister to provide me with some assurances that the kind of issues I’ve raised here today will be addressed. I have concerns about the overprescribing of medication. Gone are the days when you could sit with your GP and perhaps have some advocacy, some counselling and some support. It’s very difficult. I’m having people presenting who are actually having difficulty even getting an appointment for a GP. We have talked about GP recruitment.

Eating disorders are a particular worry. In the society that we live in, the pressures that face young girls and young boys—. It is not—you know, people do have a tendency to think, ‘This is just a girl-related condition’. These kinds of conditions are on the increase, and so I really want to know how the Minister is going to address those concerns.
 
There are some good, interesting statistics throughout, and I welcome the review of CAMHS that is going to take place, but it has to be a meaningful review. One thing that is going to be evident, again, is the lack of funding going to local authorities. It has been said that CAMHS are already under severe pressure, so how are we going to deliver better outcomes if the funding to local authorities is being cut. So, I think I have raised some pretty obvious issues, and I’d like a response from the Minister, please.