Debate contribution: Waiting Lists: Action Plan

Debate contribution by Miss Órlaithí Flynn on 20 February 2024.

MLA

Miss Órlaithí Flynn

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

20 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Waiting Lists: Action Plan

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4380620

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will speak in support of the motion and the amendment. We all know that the current situation with waiting lists is completely untenable for patients and for our staff. Other Members mentioned cancer, domiciliary care, gynaecology and oral health, but we know that mental and physical health are intimately linked. Long waiting lists for mental health services are also unacceptable. Aside from elective care and physical health, poor mental health alone costs the economy here £3·4 billion each year. At any time, one in 10 of our children and young people are experiencing anxiety or depression. We heard recently — this was carried in the media last week or the week before — that 10,000 children sought mental health support last year and that a third of them were still waiting for their first appointment at the end of 2023. The motion also refers to the fact that people need to receive that same-time access, regardless of their postcode or where they live. We all know that, at present, that is clearly not the case. The children's mental health story that was covered the other week shows how waiting times vary between trusts. Average waiting times went from five months in the Belfast Trust to fewer than nine weeks in the Southern Trust area. That is definitely an issue that we need to grapple with, because it is not fair. Some children wait years for mental health supports. The longest wait was in the Belfast Trust, where some children waited nearly two years. Obviously, in protecting our young people and looking out for children, those waits are just wrong, and no family or child should be that long on a waiting list. At the moment, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) funding is approximately £20 million to £25 million per year, which is between 6·5% and 8·5% of the overall mental health budget. I know that, in the mental health strategy, the hope is to increase that percentage of the budget to 10%. I hope that that will be the case, because it will help with overall waiting lists. The recent workforce review on mental health showed that we need almost 2,000 additional workers to provide adequate mental health services. Again, when we talk about an addition to funding for waiting lists, which is absolutely an immediate priority, we also need funding for additional training places and for our workforce. In mental health, that would be specifically for psychology and psychiatric services.

I thank the Member for the intervention. I completely agree. My next point was coming on to early intervention and how, in some avenues, we can get in more quickly with children to prevent them going on to different waiting lists for different issues when they grow into adulthood. The community and voluntary sector is critical to all that as well, so thank you very much for that. It is important that people are provided with the right support at the right time. Regardless of whether you start with a mental illness or a mental health problem, the longer you have to wait to be seen will have an impact on your physical health, and, vice versa, if you are on a waiting list for a physical health problem and you have long delays in being seen, that can impact on your mental health. We need a two-pronged approach to support people with both physical and mental health issues. From stats on the waiting lists for adult mental health services, we know that those lists have almost doubled over the past four years. The number of young people who are waiting for access to CAMHS has tripled over the past four years. As someone mentioned, we need to make sure that it does not come down to people's personal finances in terms of how soon they can be seen or treated. We know that not everyone can afford it. The people who can least afford and pay for it are, sadly, those who live in our most deprived areas. Again —.

Yes.

Absolutely it has. It is completely unfair to expect any family, especially families who do not have the means or finances, to have the additional pressure of paying to get their loved ones seen and treated for their healthcare.

Am I out of time, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker?

OK. To finish off, we recognise the impact on patients' mental and physical health, but we also know that being on a waiting list is having a massive impact on the lives of people who are watching this debate. On the amendment, any practical steps that we, the Minister and the Executive can take to help with waiting lists need to be made a priority for everyone. I support the motion.

795 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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