Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:07 pm on 11 October 2016.
Thank you for providing us with this update today, Cabinet Secretary, and for providing us with the final delivery plan yesterday. When we discussed the draft plan in July, I raised the issue of access to psychological therapies. Early access to talking therapies, such as CBT, are proven to improve recovery and reduce the need for more acute services. I therefore welcome the commitment to improve access to psychological therapies and details of the funding. I would be grateful if the Cabinet Secretary could outline how the Welsh Government will reduce waiting times for CBT in Wales. I also thank the Cabinet Secretary for the commitment to improving the CAMHS service. It will be welcome news that young people will not wait more than 48 hours for an urgent referral or more than 28 days for a routine appointment. However, I remain concerned about the out-of-area placement of children and young people. I welcome the commitment to reduce the number of out-of-area placements and the length of such placements. Can the Cabinet Secretary please explain why the reduction will only be by 10 per cent of the 2013-14 baseline? Surely, we can be more ambitious than that. Should we not aim to eradicate the majority of out-of-area placements, given the obvious impact this has on the mental health of those young people and their families?
I look forward to learning more about how the new well-being bond will work in practice and for details of the social prescription scheme pilot. It is important that we ensure that everyone in Wales has access to community support schemes such as the excellent Sandfields centre or Tŷ Elis counselling service within my region. Will the social prescription scheme fund referrals to community support schemes such as these? They currently receive no funding from the NHS, despite offering valuable services to them. We welcome the commitment to developing a dementia strategic plan. Dementia care and elderly mental health care is sadly lagging behind the level of care that we expect. Also, to state something similar to Rhun, actually, the well-being of our carers, whether they are paid or unpaid, is of paramount importance, in ensuring that they take their breaks when they should, and also their holidays, as we need them to be fully fit for the delivery of these services. Finally, Cabinet Secretary, we welcome the recognition that the role of the third sector has to play in the delivery of this plan. The voluntary sector and all of us have a very important role to play not only in improving mental health care, but also in tackling the stigma of mental health, and how does the Cabinet Secretary propose to support the very important work undertaken by Time to Change Cymru? Thank you again for your statement; I look forward to working with you to deliver improvements to the mental health of the people in Wales. Diolch yn fawr.