Jul 19, 2018 | Carseview, Crisis Centre, Crisis team, Mental Health Minister, NHS cuts, NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside, Not in Vain for Lee, Petition, Scottish Government, SNP, Young People
The father of a young Dundee man who took his own life has welcomed the launch of a petition calling for a mental health crisis centre in the city.
Talented musician Lee Welsh died on August 8 last year. Now, almost a year after his death, a petition has been started in a bid to secure a 24/7 self-refer mental health crisis centre.
Since Lee’s death, his dad Phil has been campaigning for better mental health provision in Dundee under the banner Not in Vain for Lee.
Among his ideas is a crisis centre similar to one in Edinburgh. The centre in Edinburgh is funded by NHS Lothian, Edinburgh City Council and mental health charity Penumbra.
Phil said: “Something needs to change so people having a mental health crisis can have immediate access to support.”
The petition states: “As NHS Tayside reviews local mental health services, it must look to provide a new facility, offering emergency support 24 hours a day, seven days a week where people can self-refer.
“The crisis centre would provide access to counsellors and support in a home-like environment allowing people time and space to seek appropriate help.”
MSP Jenny Marra supports the campaign and said: “It would be designed to support the current system, which is too often unable to offer care quickly enough.”
Robert Packham, chief officer for Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “NHS Tayside provides support for people in Dundee in a mental health crisis 24-hours-a-day.
“The crisis intervention and home treatment service in Dundee assesses all psychiatric emergencies within office hours.
“Any person who attends Accident & Emergency in a mental health crisis would be seen by the liaison psychiatry service. There is also an emergency team based at Carseview Centre which operates out of hours.
“The nursing team is supported by on-call psychiatrists and sees people in crisis directly and referred from A&E.
“NHS Tayside has established an independent inquiry chaired by David Strang to review mental health services in Tayside.
“In the meantime, we are working with clinical, nursing and other staff to identify and act upon any areas which may benefit from improvement.”
Link to Evening Telegraph article here
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Mar 8, 2018 | Maureen Watt, mental health and suicide intervention training, Mental Health Crisis Resolution Team, Mental health first aid, Mental Health Minister, NHS Scotland, Not in Vain for Lee, Samaritans, Scottish Government, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
Training to help prevent suicides could be provided in every workplace across Scotland under new plans announced by the Scottish Government.
A new draft suicide prevention action plan has been unveiled, with a pledge to develop a “new, world-leading, comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention training programme”.
Mental health minister Maureen Watt said this should then be provided in workplaces across the country in the same way as first aid training.
There were a total of 728 suicides across Scotland in 2016.
The new action plan has been brought in more than a year after the previous suicide prevention strategy, which covered the period 2013 to 2016.
The proposals, which are being consulted on at the moment, include commissioning NHS Health Scotland to “lead on the development of a new, world-leading, comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention training programme to replace and modernise the current suite of training programmes”.
The plan added: “We will work to create a culture where mental health and suicide prevention training is universally delivered with the same commitment as physical health emergency training across a wide range of services and organisations. “
As well as improved suicide prevention training, it sets out to make greater use of social media, with NHS24 developing a number of initiatives in this area.
Launching the new draft plan in Edinburgh, Ms Watt said: “Every life matters and everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention. “While the suicide rate in Scotland has fallen over the past decade, I want us to go further to prevent deaths. “As part of our proposals, we aim to produce a world-leading suicide prevention training programme for employers. “We need to create a culture across Scotland where workplaces deliver mental health and suicide prevention training with the same commitment as physical health emergency training such as CPR and first aid.”
Shirley Windsor, lead for public mental health at NHS Health Scotland, stressed the need to develop “more responsive services”.
She added: “The training programme, raising skills and building confidence in everyone, not just professionals, to spot and respond to people in distress, has huge potential to help prevent suicide in Scotland.”
Samaritans executive director James Jopling said: “Last year 728 people died by suicide in Scotland and it remains the leading cause of death for men under 50 across the UK. As such, the impact that suicide has across our communities is huge. “We urge people across Scotland to get involved and help shape the Scottish Government’s suicide prevention plans.”
Link to The Scotsman article here
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