Debate contribution: Mental Health Provision in Northern Ireland

Debate contribution by Mrs Diane Dodds on 30 September 2024.

MLA

Mrs Diane Dodds

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

30 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Mental Health Provision in Northern Ireland

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4563470

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I rise to propose the amendment not to indicate that we do not want to talk about mental health, as the proposer of the motion suggested — I regret some of his remarks — but to slightly broaden the scope of the original motion to talk about general levels of mental health and well-being.

It is in that spirit that I offer the amendment and not in the spirit of shutting down conversation about the most important issue that we could address and one that, I know, the Minister has made a priority. We are glad, Minister, to see you back today. We hope that you are feeling reasonably well after COVID, which can be very debilitating. We felt that it was important to emphasise not simply what Departments could do but what other agencies, as well as our crucial community and voluntary sector, could contribute. Appropriate oversight of mental health services has been recommended in a number of important reports in recent years. My colleagues and I are contacted regularly about the lack of access to services for ADHD and autistic spectrum disorder, as well as mainstream general adult and children's mental health services. There is little ambition in the recently published 'Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031: 2024/25 Annual Delivery Plan'. The 50-page document contains fewer than eight pages on what is planned to happen this year. What has been achieved so far is welcome, Minister, but it is a drop in the ocean compared with what the strategy envisages. A firm grip needs to be taken on the mental health strategy, with concerted efforts made on its dozens of actions, otherwise it will quickly become outdated. Earlier this year, the mental health champion, Siobhán O'Neill, expressed significant concerns about the lack of investment in the mental health strategy, calling it "incredibly disappointing" that the Department of Health had invested only £9 million in the strategy. Around 7% of our Health budget is allocated to mental health, which is well behind the 11·4% in England, 9·4% in Scotland and 13·3% in Wales. While some criticise the broader Executive, it cannot be blamed solely on the Executive; it is also about prioritisation in the Department of Health The idea that the Executive could simply hand over £1 billion for a strategy on top of what Health already receives was never a realistic prospect in challenging financial circumstances. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) made a number of recommendations to the Department of Health last year on mental health, and only a few have been acted on. The Committee said:

"More funding for mental health represents an 'invest to save' opportunity".

It recommended:

"setting out a target and timeframe over which to grown [sic] funding towards the 10-11 per cent suggested by the Mental Health Champion."

There was a recommendation to:

"grow the mental health workforce".

The Committee also said :

"While there is a general need to reduce the numbers on waiting lists ... there is particular need to address the numbers waiting for psychological therapies."

It further recommended that:

"the Department urgently implement services for those with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues. It is not acceptable that the pace of change in this area is so slow."

In the Northern Ireland life and times survey of 2023, only 50% of those aged 18 to 24 reported positively on their mental health and well-being. That is such a sad statistic for Northern Ireland. Research has shown that half of adult mental health disorders develop before the age of 18, which highlights the need to prioritise the acquisition of resilience and coping skills from a very early age. The youth well-being survey in Northern Ireland 2020 found anxiety and depression levels here to be around 25% higher than in the child and youth populations in other regions. That reflects a similar trend in Northern Ireland's adult population. Some 29% of respondents to the life and times survey reported that their mental health and well-being had been impacted by Northern Ireland's Troubles. Last week, I had the opportunity to meet representatives of New Script for Mental Health, who have highlighted that one in five adults in Northern Ireland was prescribed an antidepressant last year. That is a shocking statistic.

In the poorest areas — this ties in with the Minister's focus on health inequalities — it was 27% of the population, which represents a fourfold increase in the past 20 years. Forty per cent of females aged 45 to 64 were prescribed an antidepressant in the past year. There does not appear to be a plan from the Department to address that rise in prescribing rates, so, Minister, that is one of the issues that I would like hear about from you in your response, because those are fairly shocking statistics for Northern Ireland. In 2021, the Office for Statistics Regulation criticised mental health data, stating that it did not serve the public good. Last year, the Northern Ireland Audit Office stated that, as a result, it was not able to conclude whether mental health services were providing value for money. The data itself therefore needs to be improved as well so that we can better serve people who are experiencing mental health issues. Mental ill health has a devastating impact on the individual, but it is also having an impact on the workforce and on growing the economy. The rise in work-limiting conditions across the United Kingdom in recent years has been driven by sharp increases in reported mental health issues, particularly amongst young workers. The number of workers aged 16 to 34 who report that their mental health limits the type or amount of work that they do has increased fourfold over the past decade. Mental health issues are now the most common cause of work-limiting conditions among those aged 44 and younger in the United Kingdom. I have spent some time looking at the statistics and putting them on record in the House, because they are quite shocking. The more that I hear about and look at them, the more that I am convinced of that. It means that we have to tackle not only the awful number of suicides but the general mental health and well-being issues that our population is experiencing. I offer the amendment in that spirit, not in a spirit of hiding from any of the issues, because they are issues that I have spoken about and that I speak to individuals and groups about regularly. I urge the Assembly to consider amending the motion.

1,095 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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