Andrew RT Davies MS – the Shadow Minister for Health and Social Services – has spoken of his rising concern over mental health referrals, diagnoses, and treatment during the pandemic.
Welsh Conservative Mr Davies made his comments after figures on access to mental health services were published by StatsWales today (November 25).
He said:
“Look, mental health services have always been treated like a poor relation by this Welsh Labour-led Government, and even before the lockdowns started, and all the way through from March, we’ve been calling for better and enhanced provision for services.
“Sadly, it seems to have fallen on deaf ears, and only earlier this week, we saw the alarming figures for suicides in Wales in 2019.
“Many of us have known of friends or acquaintances tragically taking their own lives in even the best of years. 2020 has been anything but a good year, and I dread to see the figures for this year that most of us would like to forget, because the Coronavirus crisis has had a huge impact on people's wellbeing
“The Labour Party’s lack of leadership in tackling this issue is very concerning and it's clear a post-Covid mental health plan is now urgently required so that services and access to support can be guaranteed wherever you live in Wales.
“The Coronavirus pandemic has rightly led health news for months, but unless action is taken, we’ll see another, hidden pandemic of a mental health crisis in our country.”
Notes for editors
Detailed in the figures are:
- 5,720 referrals were received for a Local Primary Mental Health Support Services (LPMHSS) assessment in September 2020, a drop from 6,191 in September 2019, but more worryingly, a 63-percent drop in referrals from 5,226 in March to 1,195 in April.
- Just 43.2 percent were assessed within 28 days at Cardiff and Vale in September 2020 – down by nearly half compared with September 2019 when 80.3 percent were seen within this time.
- Betsi Cadwaladr – brought out of special measures just yesterday after nearly six years – was second worst with 73.1 percent seen within 28 days.
- There were 21,218 patients in receipt of secondary mental health services at the end of September 2020, a fall of more than 1,000 patients within the system since September 2019, when 22,251 were in receipt of secondary mental health services.
- Just 57.6 percent – compared with a peak of 93 percent in June 2020 – of under 18s had a valid Care and Treatment Plan in September 2020 out of the six health boards able to respond.