Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to start by thanking Buffy Williams for bringing forward today's debate, and thanking all the Members who have contributed. It is a subject close to my heart. Indeed, one of the last things I did in this Chamber in the previous Senedd was to help bring forward a debate on perinatal mental health. It is a subject that absolutely belongs at the top...
Lynne Neagle: Members can be assured that I will be asking for regular updates about the capacity for delivering this support, and it must be available in a timely and sustainable manner. We know that the pandemic has made it more difficult to provide the vital named midwifery and health visitor support following birth. I will be asking for updates for Members on how that is now working on the ground,...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank Jenny Rathbone for introducing such an important topic for a short debate and also to thank Cefin Campbell for his contribution. How and what we eat has an enormous impact on our health and well-being. In annual estimates of how many years of healthy life are lost to avoidable illness, disability and death, four out of the top five risk...
Lynne Neagle: There is a wealth of evidence that consistently shows that populations that have a high intake of fruit and vegetables have a lower incidence of heart disease and some cancers. It is the mixture of components in fruit and vegetables that is protective rather than one individual component. In addition to their valuable nutrient content, fruit and vegetables are a good source of fibre. Eating...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you. The Welsh Government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services, which is a priority area for action within the refreshed 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan 2019-22. We also continue to invest in specialist perinatal mental health services across Wales.
Lynne Neagle: Can I thank Buffy Williams for that question? I entirely recognise the issues that you highlight and also the impact that the pandemic has had on families' experiences of having babies. This is a priority area for us; it's a priority area in our mental health delivery plan. We've now got perinatal mental health services in every part of Wales and we've invested £3 million a year recurrently...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you for that question, Laura, and I'd like to say that I'm a huge fan of health visitors. I had amazing support off my health visitor after I had my first child and I entirely recognise what you've said about the life-saving role that they can play and also the vital safeguarding role that they play. The training that I referred to for the perinatal period would absolutely apply to...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you for that question and thank you for your good wishes. Likewise, I'm very keen to work across parties to improve the mental health of everyone in Wales. I do take issue with what you've said about us facing a mental health epidemic. I think we need to be very careful about the language that we use and that that kind of language can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The evidence...
Lynne Neagle: Absolutely, I certainly recognise the scale of the challenge that we face. It's the use of the term 'epidemic' that I take issue with, really, in this context. Our approach in Wales is very much based on the recognition that we need to promote resilience, we need to intervene early, and all our reforms are based on changing that whole system, to have that early intervention and preventative...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you. What you ask is a very complex question, because, as I said when we discussed this earlier in the week, these things are all about balance of harms, aren't they? And as much as it harms children not to be in school, it also harms children if COVID rates are really high and lots of family members get affected. So, all these things are about weighing up a balance of harms. We have...
Lynne Neagle: We are taking a whole-system approach to improve and support the mental health and well-being of children and young people. This includes actions across health, social care, education and youth work, with a focus on prevention and earlier intervention, whilst also ensuring specialist services are available when needed.
Lynne Neagle: Can I thank Joyce Watson for that supplementary? This is absolutely a top priority for me, and we absolutely need to end the situation where children and young people are faced with the wrong door. That's why I'm working closely across Government, especially with the Deputy Minister for Social Services, on the implementation of our new nurturing, empowerment, safe and trusted framework, which...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank Luke Fletcher for tabling this very important motion today and for engaging with me so constructively ahead of this debate? Luke has spoken with such courage about his own family experiences of dementia. I hope that he won't mind me saying that, in my personal experience, true champions are rarely drawn from the ranks of the unscarred, and I...
Lynne Neagle: These last 18 months have been incredibly tough for everyone, but for no-one more so than people living with dementia. The loss of routine, changes to support, uncertainty and the restrictions on care home visiting have made a challenging situation even more difficult. That's why I was pleased, last week, on World Alzheimer's Day, to be able to launch the 'Dementia action plan: strengthening...
Lynne Neagle: I am working with Ministers to ensure that the impact of policies and programmes on mental health can be improved across policy areas, including climate change. We are strengthening support for lower-level mental health issues, which can be accessed online or over the phone and do not need a referral.
Lynne Neagle: We owe our veterans a debt of gratitude and a duty of care. We have shown our ongoing commitment to the Veterans’ NHS Wales mental health service by committing an additional £235,000 annually from 2021-22. This ensures a recurrent budget of £920,000 per annum, an increase of 35 per cent on previous funding.
Lynne Neagle: Formally.
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to everybody who's spoken today. I do welcome this debate, and with World Mental Health Day almost upon us, this is a good opportunity to discuss the importance of protecting and supporting our mental health and well-being. We're 12 months into the implementation of our 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan, revised in response to the...
Lynne Neagle: The pandemic has had a major impact on all our mental health, in very many different ways. As Jack Sargeant has highlighted, we all have mental health, and some days it's good, some days it's not so good. We've seen that the anxiety of those who've felt isolated and alone in lockdown has been matched for some by apprehension about rejoining society as restrictions are lifted. For some, we...
Lynne Neagle: Thank you, Janet, for that. I'd be very happy to meet with the individual that you mention, but I should re-emphasise that we are not, thankfully, seeing a rise in suicide rates at the moment. It is very important that all of us are really responsible in the language that we use about suicide, because when we talk about rates, people say things like, 'Rates going through the roof', and what...
