POSTCODE LOTTERY OF MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT FOR PUPILS

July 29, 2017 by martinrooney2014 Leave a comment

Monica Lennon – Labour

New data from Scottish Labour has revealed a postcode lottery of mental health support available to pupils in Scotland.

The findings have emerged despite claims by the SNP Government that a mental health link worker is available to every school.

The figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveal that 14 councils in Scotland do not employ this position in schools, and a further 12 do not hold any information on the role.

Six out of 14 regional health boards also confirmed that they do not hold the position, which is supposed to be a named employee.

Scottish Labour has put forward a plan for school-based counselling, supported by children’s organisations, which would give our young people access to support when they require it.

The party is this week focusing on the next generation of Scots as part of its summer campaign, For The Many.

Scottish Labour inequalities spokesperson Monica Lennon said:

“The SNP claims that every school has access to a mental health link worker, but there is utter confusion over what this role looks like in practice and who is supposed to fulfil it.

“A majority of councils in Scotland have revealed they either don’t have a mental health link worker or don’t hold information on it.  How can we trust SNP ministers when they claim support is in place, when education authorities and health boards say that it’s not?

“If schools don’t hold information on who is supposed to be their mental health link worker, children and young people are simply missing out.

“Meanwhile, there is a crisis in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), with thousands of children waiting several months for treatment – often, in the end, only to be turned away. If young people get early support, we know a mental health problem can avoid becoming a crisis.

“That’s why Labour has a plan for school-based counselling, supported by children’s organisations, that would give our young people access to support when they require it.

“SNP ministers must act urgently to explain what support exists and that they will give serious consideration to putting our school counselling plan in place.”

  

NOTES 

On January 12, 2017, SNP minister Maureen Watt wrote to the convener of the Health and Sport Committee. In her letter, she states that all schools have access to a mental health link person:  http://www.parliament.scot/S5_HealthandSportCommittee/Inquiries/20170112_Letter_from_Minister.pdf

FOI request: Mental Health Link Workers:

Please provide details of the total number of mental health link workers who are either employed or contracted by the NHS Board and who have responsibility for primary and secondary schools.

Please include in this information (i) the total number of workers, and/or the Full Time Equivalent figures, ii) how many schools take up these services in each year since 2010, iii) the job title of the workers and iv) a brief description of their role.

RESPONSES:

 

Council
Aberdeen City	None – info held by NHS Grampian
Aberdeenshire	Mental health link workers not available
Angus	Not employed or contracted
Argyll and Bute	Not employed or contracted
Clackmannanshire	–
Dumfries and Galloway	Not held
Dundee	Not held
East Ayrshire	Not held
East Dunbartonshire	None – work with Health and Social Care Partnership to provide mental health services.
East Lothian	Matters referred through CAMHS.
East Renfrewshire	None
Edinburgh City	Not held – info held by NHS
Falkirk	Not employed or contracted
Fife	None
Glasgow City	43 Educational Psychologists
Highland	10.2 FTE Band 6 Primary Mental Health Workers (PMHW) 1 Band 7 PMHW Team Lead – each school is allocated a worker and how to contact them
Inverclyde	None
Midlothian	Not held
Moray	None
Western Isles	Not held
North Ayrshire	None
North Lanarkshire	Not held – linked to educational psychologist service
Orkney Islands	None employed
Perth & Kinross	None employed – referred through NHS
Renfrewshire	None employed
Scottish Borders	3 Community Mental health workers delivered by NHS
Shetland Islands	0.5 FTE primary care worker based in CAMHS team
South Ayrshire	None
South Lanarkshire	None – info held by NHS
Stirling	None
West Dumbartonshire	Not held
West Lothian	Not held

 

NHS board
Ayrshire & Arran	6 Primary Mental Health Workers and 2 Clinical Applied Assistant Psychologists – accept school referrals
Borders	3 Community Mental Health Workers, responsibility for 9 secondary schools
Dumfries & Galloway	None – Mental Health Link workers have links to school clusters but only as part of their role
Fife	None – but does employ 4 CAMHS Primary Mental Health Workers to provide specialist support to all agencies, including shcools
Forth Valley	None – but employ a small team of Primary Mental Health Workers (5.2 WTE)
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	None
Grampian	None
Highland	Employed by Highland Council Argyll and Bute – 4 x 0.5 WTE workers covering 11-16 years.
Lanarkshire	Not employed/not held
Lothian	–
Orkney	None
Shetland	1 WTE Primary Mental Health Worker
Tayside	5 WTE Primary Mental Health Worker staff with responsibility of the Mental Health Link Worker role as part of their Primary Mental Health Worker Role
Western Isles	–