‘Cinderella’ mental health services in Wales falling short of acceptable standard
The Welsh Government needs to take urgent action to improve mental health services in Wales.
That’s the view of the National Assembly’s Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee which today published the findings of its inquiry into mental health service provision in Wales.
The committee recognised that mental health is often characterised as a ‘Cinderella service’ due to its relative lack of status amongst other health and social care specialties.
It recommends that the current restructuring of the NHS should be seen by the Government as an opportunity to redress this imbalance and afford mental health services a higher priority in the new NHS bodies.
It also highlights that the Adult Mental Health National Service Framework - the key mechanism for improving services - has not been fully implemented and its achievements have been limited.
“Each year one in four of us will experience a mental health problem and at any given time one in six of us experience poor mental health,” said Committee Chair Darren Millar AM.
“This is not someone else’s problem. Poor mental health can have a profound effect on our quality of life and cut us off from friends, family and society.
“Our overall impression of these services is that they vary considerably in availability and quality of services. There have been some improvements but there is some way to go before services achieve acceptable standards throughout Wales”.
The report also questions how well equipped primary care services - such as GP practices - are to act as first port of call for people with mental health problems.
Access to services by those living in rural areas of Wales is another issue to come under fire and the report recommends that the Government should consider the wider use of small local units to reduce the number of hospital admissions and allow short stays for people nearer to their homes.
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