Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:02 pm on 5 July 2016.
As I said, we announced significant additional investment last year of £7.65 million, and I indicated that in my opening remarks as well. So, I don’t accept that there has been a reduction in funding for CAMHS; that isn’t the challenge that we face. In fact, we wouldn’t have been able to recruit new people into the service to do something about addressing long waiting times—certainly not finished yet—without that additional investment in staff.
I’d better make some progress. In particular, I wanted to recognise the points made by Lynne Neagle in, again, a very well-constructed contribution about dementia in particular, and highlighting us being a dementia-friendly nation and having dementia-friendly communities, and the impact that has on individuals across that community, both in understanding, but also a better life experience as well, and also in particular for highlighting the scale of the challenge. I can say that we expect to have the new dementia strategic action plan by the end of this calendar year. But, on diagnosis, we’ve seen rates improve, and I expect us to reach 50 per cent by the end of this year as well, and then set our new level of expectation.
I’ll just deal with a number of the points that Dai Lloyd mentioned. On policing our practical relationships, it is something we work hard at, and we recognise we need to continue to do so, as well as your point about training for staff and the broader point about the mix of staff that we have.
Nick Ramsay, apart from mentioning Raglan at several points and opportunities, I’m delighted that you also recognise the challenges across the UK, but also the way that we take advantage of the life experience of people and the impact of volunteering as part of maintaining a good level of mental health and well-being.
I do, finally, want to mention the points raised by both Dawn Bowden and Hannah Blythyn, in particular looking at indicators and mental health issues in the workplace. Not just from my previous life as a lawyer, but my previous life as a shop steward for a trade union, I recognise the role that trade union representatives do have to play in helping to create a more positive workplace and actually take up action where that doesn’t happen. It is an important role that is sometimes not highlighted. But I went, myself, on mental health first aid awareness training and I’ve made sure that my own staff have undertaken that training for the particualrly stressful and difficult roles they do from time to time as well. That may be a point that individual Members may wish to consider for themselves.
Finally, I just want to deal with, not all of the points Jeremy Miles made, but to finish on this point, and it’s about engagement, because your recognise the points about the responses that people have made and how we deal with the demand profile at a time of economic uncertainty and not wanting to sit back. We had 137 responses to the consultation, and the responses and the way we engage are genuine. I can say that because those responses will have changed what we end up doing in the final plan. So, we will take account of what people say and what we need to do to deal with the demand that we have now and what we expect in the future, and to make sure that we come back not just to say that we’ve coped, but that we’ve improved the situation so that outcomes have continued to improve across Wales. I look forward to speaking more in this Chamber at another time about mental health action here in Wales.