Achi news desk-
If the 2022/23 budget had at least kept pace with inflation the proposed expenditure would have been £316m in 2023/24 and £343m in 2024/25.
Meanwhile it has emerged that the number of probable suicides in Scotland has risen from 680 in the pre-pandemic year of 2017 to 762 in 2022. There have been 2320 suicides in the three years since the start of the pandemic from 2020 to 2022 – 75 higher than the three-year average of the six previous pre-pandemic years, namely 2245.
House of Commons research has found that the suicide rate in Scotland has been consistently higher than the rate in Northern Ireland, Wales and England. And the suicide death rate in the most deprived areas of Scotland was 2.6 times higher than in the least deprived areas of Scotland. That is higher than the deprivation gap of 1.8 times for all causes of death.
READ MORE: ‘There’s always hope’: Raw data and tackling suicide in Scotland
In September 2022, the Scottish Government and local authority group COSLA introduced the Creating Hope Together scheme running until 2025 with a target to reduce the number of deaths from suicide.
Aid organization Samaritans Scotland, which has provided a vital lifeline to people in crisis and distress for more than six decades, has warned ministers that the state of the mental health budget means it is “difficult to predict the target will be met and that there is enough of money available. for mental health.”
Ministers had promised to commit 10% of total NHS spending to mental health. A number of leading mental health organizations have said an additional £180 million is needed to meet the commitment.
Samaritans Scotland said there is currently “no sign” the Scottish Government will meet its own target of increasing spending on mental health to 10% of the NHS budget given the failure to increase funding for 2024/25 .
“It is important to recognize that Creating Hope Together is an ambitious strategy and the Scottish Government must ensure that sufficient funding is available to meaningfully achieve this ambition throughout the period of the strategy,” said the group. .
“The lack of an increase in the mental health directorate’s budget for the second consecutive year is effectively a major pay cut in real terms.
“Frontline services, including the Samaritans Listening Service, have a key role to play in reducing suicide in Scotland. At the moment there is not enough money in the system to ensure that these services can be provided in the long term.
“We know that to ensure that fewer lives are lost to suicide, we have to be accessible to anyone experiencing distress, not just those experiencing a suicidal crisis .”
It will cost the Samaritans £7.3 million to operate the Listening Service across the UK and Ireland in the latest year and they estimate that this equates to around £600,000 in Scotland.
“We are working hard to secure the necessary funding to provide our Listening Service and ensure we are there for those who need us most. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult and we need to see more a commitment to funding the service in the long term.” they said.
The Scottish Action for Mental Health strategy has also raised concerns about funding saying that the Scottish Government has only committed direct funding to support their strategy of £2.8m a year by 2025-26, with spending of £2.5m in 2023-24.
“We do not believe that sufficient funding has been provided to fully implement the strategy and action plan. This is a particular concern in the context of a downturn in the economic cycle, which is associated with a higher risk of suicide,” the group said at a briefing.
They say it is a sign of this “lack of resources” that, of the £2.5m spend in 2023-24, £600,000 has been allocated to continue funding the suicide bereavement pilot services and improvements to emergency responses.
They say that if the intention is to fully roll out services across all areas of Scotland using the same model as the pilot, it would require “significantly more funding” than the total direct spending commitment of £ 2.8m a year to support the whole strategy. for the commitment of the bereavement service only.
They say that today’s spending levels are significantly lower compared to historical spending during the National Life Choice Strategy.
Dewis Bywyd was supported by a budget of £12m over the first three years between 2003 and 2006 and the second phase between 2006 and 2009 was supported by £8.4m. Around £2m of this went to national activities supported by a national program of research and evaluation, with local authorities getting £6.4m to support local action plans.
“We believe that at least similar spending is needed to achieve the goal of reducing deaths by suicide, particularly in the context of the ongoing cost of living crisis,” the group told ministers.
“There is a real risk that effective preventative actions or responses to suicide – such as bereavement support after suicide – will be confined to limited pilot areas, and not fully rolled out despite positive evaluations.”
A YouGov poll of 1,103 people in Scotland last year revealed that 53% of Scots were not confident that they or a family member could access mental health support, if needed.
Although only 11% were optimistic that mental health services will improve over the next two years.
And 58% think that not enough is spent on mental health from the Scottish Government’s health budget.
An annual survey suggests mental wellbeing in Scotland is at an all-time low.
The annual survey, published by the Scottish Center for Social Research and the Scottish government, included 4,394 adults and 1,764 children.
It said the average score for adults on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) was 47 in 2022, compared to 50 in 2008, when the survey began.
The worst mental well-being was reported among those from the most deprived 20% of Scotland, at 44.7, while those in the most affluent areas reported an average of 48.3.
They found that those between the ages of 45 and 54 had, on average, the worst mental health.
Last year’s survey also shows a steady increase in the number of adults who have said they have self-harmed or tried to kill themselves.
The number of adults who said they felt lonely all or most of the time increased from 8% in 2021 to 11% in 2022, with younger adults more likely to feel lonely .
There was also an increase in the number of adults who reported two or more symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Mental wellbeing minister Maree Todd said: “Every suicide is a tragedy which has a far-reaching impact on family, friends and society. We are committed to tackling this and improving mental health.
“We have exceeded our commitment to fund over 800 additional mental health workers in accident and emergency departments, GP practices, police custody and prisons. We have also invested £51 million in our Mental Health and Community Wellbeing Fund which has strong emphasis on the key themes of prevention and early intervention, preventing suicide and tackling social isolation Around 3,300 grants have been provided and a further £15 million is available in 2024/25.
“The new investment will bring our funding for preventive support in the community to over £130 million since 2020.
“Although the 2024-25 budget is the most challenging to achieve under devolution, it provides more than £19.5 billion for health and social care. In 2024-25 the Scottish Government and NHS Boards expect to spend over £1.3 billion to support mental health services and support – doubling the budget in cash terms since 2006, enabling a record number of staff to provide more diverse support and services for more people than ever before.”
