4th September 2024

Commenting on the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government and yesterday’s in-year budget cuts, Billy Watson, Chief Executive of SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), said:

“Scotland’s mental health is in a bad place. Every measure of mental health in the most recent Scottish Health Survey was down on the year before, and in most cases the worst ever recorded. We need to be careful not to over-interpret the data, but last month’s statistics on probable suicides showed a rise for a second consecutive year. Audit Scotland’s 2023 report on adult mental health services described a fragmented, complex and under-resourced system. New data for adult psychological therapies and CAMHS highlights an on-going failure to meet waiting times standards.

“We were therefore shocked to see a disproportionate cut to mental health services announced yesterday. The Distress Brief Intervention programme has been one of a small number of success stories in mental health provision in recent years, helping tens of thousands of people in distress across the country, and today’s Programme for Government commits to supporting precisely these people. Two-thirds of college students and three-quarters of university students report low mental wellbeing. We are already short of Mental Health Officers, who play a crucial role in safeguarding the rights of people with mental health problems in the statutory system. Yet all three of these areas have been targeted for cuts.

“Today’s announcement in the Programme for Government of additional funding for mental health services comes in that context. We need assurances that that money is new – and even if it is, it will still leave us a long way off from reaching the Scottish Government’s existing commitment to allocate 10% of NHS frontline spend to mental health.

“We must have a clear and positive direction of travel to improve Scotland’s mental health, but instead we are getting mixed messages from the Scottish Government. There needs to be a radical change of direction in this December’s budget or we are in danger of seeing this mental health crisis spiral out of control.”