Mental Health Services (Involvement of Young People)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 9 May 2018.

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Photo of Fulton MacGregor Fulton MacGregor Scottish National Party

1. To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the voices of young people are heard during the development of mental health services. (S5O-02057)

I remind members that I am the parliamentary liaison officer to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport.

Photo of Maureen Watt Maureen Watt Scottish National Party

When we published our mental health strategy in March 2017, a consistent theme was engagement and co-production with young people. I valued the opportunity to hear young people’s views first hand through the work that we carried out in conjunction with the Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scot, Children in Scotland and many others. Those views were crucial to informing the final strategy.

We continue to put young people’s voices at the heart of the strategy, and we have several strands of on-going work that directly involve young people. They include: the youth commission on mental health services, which is run by Young Scot; a review of personal and social education in schools, which is strategy action 1; an audit of rejected referrals to child and adolescent mental health services, which is being run by the Scottish Association for Mental Health and is strategy action 18; and work on transitions between CAMHS and adult services, which is being run by the Scottish Youth Parliament and is strategy action 21. All that work is really valuable, particularly given that 2018 is the year of young people.

We will continue to ensure that young people’s voices are heard and acted on, particularly as mental health is consistently mentioned as one of the top priorities—if not the top priority—for young people.

Photo of Fulton MacGregor Fulton MacGregor Scottish National Party

A couple of weeks ago, I held a round-table meeting with the cross-party group on children and young people, in which a range of stakeholders contributed on the subject of mental health and young people. There was a particular focus on the transition period from CAMHS to adult services for young people between the ages of 16 and 18, which the minister mentioned. How is the Government ensuring that young people have a say in the services that are available for that particular group?

Photo of Maureen Watt Maureen Watt Scottish National Party

I thank Fulton MacGregor for his interest in the issue. It is good to hear that there is a focus on transitions between CAMHS and adult services. That is one of the central themes that emerged during the Scottish Youth Parliament’s speak your mind campaign on mental health, which has been crucial to informing our strategy.

As I mentioned in my first answer, the Scottish Youth Parliament is taking forward work on transitions. We want to focus on how anticipatory care plans can best be used to support young people who transition between CAMHS and adult services, between different child and adolescent mental health services or, indeed, out of CAMHS altogether. The Scottish Youth Parliament’s work will ensure that the final anticipatory care plan has been designed by young people for young people.

The Scottish Youth Parliament held a discussion day event on 24 March, which I attended. I look forward to the final product being finalised and rolled out in the coming months.

Photo of Oliver Mundell Oliver Mundell Conservative

In Dumfries and Galloway, we have seen a 10 per cent rise in the number of temporary staff who work in child and adolescent mental health services. Does the minister agree that that represents a huge challenge for the running of child-centred services? What action is the Scottish Government taking to address the issue?

Photo of Maureen Watt Maureen Watt Scottish National Party

The key is early intervention and prevention. We see increasing numbers coming forward for CAMHS, but we want to ensure that people are properly referred and that, if CAMHS specialist intervention is not required, intervention at tiers 1 and 2 is available.