Continuity of Care for Young People

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:14 pm on 4 November 2020.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 3:14, 4 November 2020

I'm grateful, Minister. We're all very aware of the difficulties facing young people, and, in many ways, the last few months has only sought to emphasise this. Over the years, in Blaenau Gwent, I've had to support a number of families who've found it very difficult to access mental health support for people who are adolescents who are moving between the two services. In the last week we've been trying to support a family who've been through a really heartbreaking experience, whereby the services they were receiving from the children's mental health team were very, very good, but most services stop, of course, at age 18, and the young person involved was not able to have the support that they required as they moved into adult mental health care. It is absolutely unacceptable that we're unable to provide seamless care for our young people in this way. I hope, Minister, that in the time you have available—and I know, in answer to an earlier question from Andrew R.T. Davies, you were very clear about the position of young people as being a priority for you—you'll be able to look not simply at the services themselves but transition between services and the linkage between different services to ensure that young people have the support they require seamlessly as they grow up and seamlessly between different service providers.