THE Scottish Government’s blueprint on the future of the NHS is a welcome attempt to reform the way the health service works. Rather than focusing on treatment in hospital, the Government wants to treat more people closer to home where possible. It also wants to prevent people becoming ill in the first place and then intervene as quickly as possible to prevent their conditions becoming more serious.
Provided it is properly funded, all of this makes sense at a time when hospital resources are under strain, but it also makes it is all the more disappointing that on the day the blueprint was published, it was also revealed nearly 20 children and teenagers a day are being turned away from mental health services.
According to the latest figures, 6,931 referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs), which includes statutory and voluntary services, were rejected in 2015 and Neil Findlay, convener of Holyrood’s health and sport committee, has called for an investigation.
The Government should heed Mr Findlay’s call, but what is particularly troubling about the figures is that they suggest the system that is supposed for care for children and young people with mental health issues is not working as it should. One particular problem is that, when a young person’s referral is turned down, their mental health can worsen without support to the point where they are deemed suitable for Camhs.
Not only is that bad for the young people involved, it also runs counter to what the Government says it wants to achieve with its blueprint and it appears to happen because there is a shortage of mental health services for young people in the community. Caring for someone with mental health problems, or any other health problem, at home or in the community rather than in hospital can be better for the patient and potentially better, and cheaper, for the health service too. But it has to be properly funded.
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