By Paul Dicken
24 September 2009
Mental health services across Wales continue to be inconsistent and could remain a low priority in the reorganised health service, Assembly Members have warned.
In an inquiry into community-based services, the health, wellbeing and local government scrutiny committee found that the National Service Framework for Adult Mental Health Services in Wales had not been fully implemented and its achievements had been limited.
Committee chair Darren Millar said: ‘Our overall impression of these services is that they vary considerably in availability and quality of services.’
The committee’s report, published on September 16, welcomed the introduction of the ‘recovery model’ for treating conditions, which took a holistic approach to an individual’s needs. But it warned that giving responsibility for mental health services to vice chairs and directors of new local health boards could divert attention from primary and community health services.
Ruth Coombs, manager for influence and change at mental health charity Mind Cymru, welcomed the report’s recommendations and agreed that mental health remained a low priority.
Coombs told Public Finance that it would be a valuable exercise to look at the cost savings from early intervention in Wales as it reduced spending on acute care and meant people were more likely to be economically active.
‘One of our greatest concerns is the patchiness of services, which is highlighted in the report. We’ve been saying, for I can’t remember how many years, it does depend on where you live on what you get. Some people have a fantastic service and other people have no service at all and that is still the case.’
Bill Walden-Jones, chief executive of Hafal, a charity working with people with serious mental illness and carers, said if mental health services were not ‘significantly invested in and backed up with performance management’, the area would be at risk from future spending cuts.
24 September 2009
Mental health services across Wales continue to be inconsistent and could remain a low priority in the reorganised health service, Assembly Members have warned.
In an inquiry into community-based services, the health, wellbeing and local government scrutiny committee found that the National Service Framework for Adult Mental Health Services in Wales had not been fully implemented and its achievements had been limited.
Committee chair Darren Millar said: ‘Our overall impression of these services is that they vary considerably in availability and quality of services.’
The committee’s report, published on September 16, welcomed the introduction of the ‘recovery model’ for treating conditions, which took a holistic approach to an individual’s needs. But it warned that giving responsibility for mental health services to vice chairs and directors of new local health boards could divert attention from primary and community health services.
Ruth Coombs, manager for influence and change at mental health charity Mind Cymru, welcomed the report’s recommendations and agreed that mental health remained a low priority.
Coombs told Public Finance that it would be a valuable exercise to look at the cost savings from early intervention in Wales as it reduced spending on acute care and meant people were more likely to be economically active.
‘One of our greatest concerns is the patchiness of services, which is highlighted in the report. We’ve been saying, for I can’t remember how many years, it does depend on where you live on what you get. Some people have a fantastic service and other people have no service at all and that is still the case.’
Bill Walden-Jones, chief executive of Hafal, a charity working with people with serious mental illness and carers, said if mental health services were not ‘significantly invested in and backed up with performance management’, the area would be at risk from future spending cuts.
