First Ministers Questions 30th June 2015
Janet Finch-Saunders
Will the First Minister make a statement on child and adolescent mental health services in north Wales
Carwyn Jones The First Minister
Yes. We’ve recently announced an additional £7.6 million a year to support work under way to improve CAMHS across Wales. That represents an 18 per cent increase in current resources.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you. You will be aware of the immense concern as regards access to services, in particular, for those suffering from eating disorders—I currently have a constituent who is under specialist treatment now in Staffordshire—and it does beg the question why there is no eating disorder unit in Wales. I’m given to understand that the north Wales adolescent centre in Abergele has got six beds long-term empty, has the community intensive support team outreach there, is a secure and well-supported environment, has a school facility, gymnastics provision and all the infrastructure therein for an eating disorder unit. As this is a specialist facility that’s been bought and paid for within the past five years—I’m going to be looking into this more closely—would you work with me to look at this as a possibility for a treatment centre for those with eating disorders, because this really is on the rise?
Carwyn Jones The First Minister
Well, it depends, of course, on the availability of specialists, and it depends on the numbers of people going through a facility, because, inevitably, with unusual conditions—and thankfully, eating disorders are still unusual, although I take the point that she makes about them being on the increase—it’s important that people with eating disorders are treated in specialist centres with specialists who see that condition, day in, day out, week in, week out. I would not want to see a facility open where that expertise was lost to the patient.
So, we want to see the best services available to the people of Wales. If that means that, at the moment, the best services are available in England, we don’t want to create a wall between Wales and England in terms of that service being available to people living in Wales.