Our next item on the agenda is the debate on petition P-05-1078, 'Increase funding for mental health services and improve waiting times for people needing help in crisis'. I call on the Chair of the Petitions Committee to move that motion—Janet Finch-Saunders.

Motion NDM7624 Janet Finch-Saunders

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the petition 'P-05-1078, 'Increase funding for mental health services and improve waiting times for people needing help in crisis' which received 5,159 signatures.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. So, thank you for the opportunity to hold a debate on this petition today. This petition was submitted by Laura Williams, having collected 5,159 signatures. It calls for increased funding for mental health services and improvements to crisis care, and follows a previous petition that Laura submitted to our committee, which also sought to improve access to mental health support. The Petitions Committee published a report on that previous petition in 2019. In it, we made a number of recommendations to the Welsh Government, particularly aimed at improving referral pathways and timely access to crisis support.

In submitting the petition before us today, Laura has expressed her view that not enough genuine progress has been made in improving access to mental health services since that time. She is especially concerned about the impact that the pandemic and lockdowns have had on people’s mental health and well-being and the ability of services to respond to people's needs in a timely manner.

Now, these concerns are not a new issue for this Senedd and, as we heard during a debate last week, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has recently published its own report into the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on mental health and well-being. So, I believe that Laura, and the thousands of people who supported her petition, would endorse the recommendations that the health committee has made in light of the detailed evidence that they have taken during their inquiries.

However, during the remainder of my contribution this afternoon, I will focus on several specific issues that the petition asks us to consider. Before I do so, I want to briefly note that the Petitions Committee has not yet received a response to this petition from the Government, though we did request one in late November. Nor is this the first time that this has been the case in relation to a petition about mental health services. You can imagine how disappointed we as a committee feel. No doubt, the petitioners will feel the same.

The committee recognises, of course, the challenges that have faced the Welsh Government over the last year, and the need for resources to be prioritised. However, I do think that it is important that I note the challenge to us in properly scrutinising the Government and providing an adequate response to members of the public who do submit petitions if responses are not forthcoming in a reasonable time period.

Moving on to the specific requests made by this petition, Laura has highlighted her concern about the impact that COVID-19 has had on people’s mental health, particularly through the impact of lockdowns and social isolation. She remains concerned about the availability of appropriate services to people who need them, especially the extent to which these are provided in a timely way to people at times of crisis.

A recent experience that Laura relayed through her comments to the Petitions Committee raised concerns regarding a lack of available services, referral or follow-up when mental health concerns were raised during a visit to an accident and emergency department. The petition also refers to waiting times for treatment and therapy, and what Laura sees as a need to improve the capacity of services to respond to the demand that exists within our communities.

As we all know, these are long-standing concerns about the capacity constraints that there are within mental health services here in Wales, but they have perhaps been bought into even sharper focus by the circumstances of the past 12 months. Services that were oversubscribed in many cases previously have seen the numbers of patients increasing, just as their ability to provide services, particularly face-to-face, has become more restricted than ever.

Mind Cymru has noted its own concerns about access to mental health support, stating that last summer nearly a quarter of people had reported being unable to access the support they need. And last week, when introducing the health committee's debate on this subject, our colleague Dai Lloyd MS noted that more than half of adults and three quarters of young people feel that their mental health has worsened during this lockdown period.

I believe that this is an issue that we must all be seeking to address as a priority. As Wales, we hope we can continue to emerge from this pandemic, but we must do all that we can to avoid a further mental health pandemic in future.

To conclude, Deputy Presiding Officer, mental health has been the subject of a great deal of work and discussion throughout this Senedd. It has certainly been a regular theme of petitions referred to our committee over that time. That highlights both the fact that many of the members of the public consider that more could and should be done, as well as the importance of getting services right, a point I think we can all agree is particularly important right now. Thank you very much. Diolch.

May I also thank Laura Williams for bringing this petition forward and for managing to gather so many signatures? It's proof that this is an area where people want to see greater action from Government. I think we are in a far better position these days in terms of our willingness to discuss mental health issues. A lot of stigma is being tackled slowly, but there's a long way to go too, and we still can't say hand on heart that mental health is treated with real parity with physical health, and what we have here is a demand for two things that would help us to move towards that equality—greater funding for mental health services and a reduction in waiting times for those facing mental health crisis. And whilst I support that, certainly, and do want to deliver that under a Plaid Cymru Government, I also want to emphasise the importance of the preventative agenda. As with physical health, early intervention, or even trying to prevent minor problems from becoming more serious, is just as relevant with mental health issues, and that's why I've outlined plans to establish a number of well-being centres for young people across Wales—centres at the heart of our communities on the high street where young people can call in if they are facing emotional or mental health problems, young people who do not have a problem that's been diagnosed as requiring specialist health or psychiatric care, but do need immediate support. We need to be proactive in the way that we respond to mental health problems.

We can look back to the beginning of the pandemic, when Betsi Cadwaladr health board told almost 1,700 patients that they were to be taken off waiting lists for an appointment with mental health services, and that they would have to make a request to see someone again, because the pandemic had had an impact on services. Of course, there was an apology for that. It shouldn't have happened. It was somebody somewhere who had misunderstood direction from Government. But the fact that someone somewhere had thought for just one second that it would be acceptable to do that does tell us a great deal about the work that remains to be done. What we saw there was the exact opposite, if there is such a thing, of being proactive and providing early support.

Another example: I remember the last Labour First Minister saying that the reason that waiting lists for CAMHS services were so long was because so many children and young people on those waiting lists didn't truly need to be there. Well, what happens, then, is that the criteria in terms of who should be supported is tightened up in order to reduce the waiting lists, rather than thinking of ways of providing improved treatment to more children and young people.

So, thank you once again for bringing this petition before us. I hope to have an opportunity in Government, as a Plaid Cymru Minister, to strengthen the provision available in years to come.

I'll avoid any political agenda here, because I think Laura really raised this question of the importance of the mental health agenda. I'm pleased to speak in this debate as chair of the cross-party group on mental health. We've often heard the words, 'One in four of us in the UK will experience a mental health condition.' This year, more than any other, these words need revision, as many more people will suffer with mental health as a consequence of the actions taken to control the spread of coronavirus. So, surely now must be a point in time in which we recognise the essential need to prioritise and ensure sufficient funding is there for meeting the needs of improving mental health and well-being.

Mind Cymru's recently published report, 'Too long to wait', looked at waiting-time figures, both pre pandemic and during it, for access to psychological therapies. And they also spoke to many people who are either waiting for or had access to much-needed support. Psychological therapies can provide a safe space to talk openly without judgment. They can help us make sense of things, to better understand ourselves, or help us to resolve complicated feelings. They literally offer people a lifeline. The report showed that access to psychological therapy had exacerbated pre-existing issues, with fewer people accepted onto the waiting lists, yet more people waiting longer for support. And for 17 months up to August last year, 80 per cent of those waiting for psychological therapies had exceeded the 26-week target, and this undoubtedly has not improved, as more people have been impacted upon by the pandemic.

For the last 12 months, we have been asked to stay away from our normal support systems. We have missed our loved ones and friends in order to protect them. Improving access to specialist psychological therapies is a key commitment of the Welsh Government's 10-year 'Together for Mental Health' strategy. It's a goal that has to be restated in each of the strategies subsequent to the delivery plan and with targeted actions aimed at realising this ambition. Yet, we still have large numbers of people on waiting lists without that support and who often feel abandoned. I would hope that the Minister agrees that this ambition needs to be prioritised before the end of this Senedd term and will continue to be prioritised by the next Welsh Government.

Over the next Senedd term, we must reduce the current 26-week target figure. We must work with Health Education and Improvement Wales to ensure there exists a strong recruitment and training programme to increase the number of therapists available, and we must ensure that mental health is considered as important as physical health. Minister, I look forward to your response on taking forward the agenda to help the people who desperately need that support.

Thank you. Can I now call the Minister for Mental Health, Well-being and the Welsh Language, Eluned Morgan?

Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. May I first of all thank the Petitions Committee for the time they've given in considering this important issue? May I apologise that neither the committee or Laura have received a formal response? I will ensure that that formal response is provided within the next week.

Improving mental health services continues to be a priority for us as a Government, and we have been working across Government since we introduced our strategy, 'Together for Mental Health', in 2012. And, of course, the impact of COVID-19, as David Rees has outlined, and the restrictions imposed has highlighted this issue, and we are determined to improve our services to respond to demand. And, of course, the First Minister has shown his commitment to this issue by appointing a Minister to lead, from the Cabinet, in this area.

Now, it's important to note that Laura Williams's petition was led by service users, and let me start by staying that I have made a real effort to try and understand the experiences of service users in mental health services. I've met regularly with the families of children and young people who use our services. My aim is to get a full picture of the service user experience, and not just to keep focus on performance and waiting times, because I believe that improving the quality of the service user's experience is also key. So, it's not just a matter of meeting targets and waiting lists that's important to us—although I understand that we need to reach those targets—but we also need to focus on the kind of treatment that they receive when they do get to the top of that waiting list.

Although there is uncertainty still about the true impact of the pandemic on mental health, what's clear is that we need to deal with the situation in a multi-agency manner, and in a way that understands that we need to respond sensitively to the needs of individuals.

Now, the petition talks about the need to increase funding for mental health issues, and I'm really pleased to report that, in terms of funding in the next financial year, we've secured a further £42 million to support mental health services. This should, however, be seen within the context of the £780 million that we spend annually on mental health services, and I've started some detailed research to make sure that we're spending that larger amount on the appropriate things.

We also need to make sure that the funding we put in is making a difference to patients, so we must be careful not to focus just on how much we put in to support mental health, but to make sure that we keep an eye on the outcomes we're seeing as a result of that investment. I've been clear that I'd like to see a greater shift in resources towards prevention and earlier, often non-medicalised mental health support, and refocus that towards the needs of children and young people, where 80 per cent of mental health issues start.

Now, the petitioner also talks about people needing mental health support in a crisis, and I'm sure the Petitions Committee is aware of the report that was published earlier this year by the national crisis care concordat group, which analysed what the demand looks like for mental health crisis care. They found that 950 people a day in Wales seek support from the public sector for mental health or welfare concerns, and about 300 of those are for emergencies. The problem is that the current structure that supports these is often emergency services, which, despite a huge training initiative undertaken by the police and ambulance services, don't always have the knowledge or expertise to respond to the specific mental health situation. And that's why we've earmarked an additional £6 million to address this issue, which needs urgent attention, in particular when it comes to out-of-hours support.

But if people find they're in a crisis, it means that there's been a failure in the system earlier on. When it comes to mental health, early intervention is absolutely key, and I'm clear that this absolutely doesn't mean that it always has to be a medical intervention. This morning, I spoke to the Wales Alliance for Mental Health, including Mind, to understand and agree that there is a need to respond to the social and economic issues that can cause mental health issues, and which are likely to become more visible as we come out of lockdown. And that's why I've earmarked an additional £4 million to increase our capacity to deliver more timely early intervention, where people don't need to be referred into that service via a GP, and a service that can be delivered outside of the health service by specialist third sector groups. So, the aim is to ensure that there's easy access to a range of help for low-level mental health issues across Wales, and build on that support that we've already put in place during the pandemic, including cognitive behavioural therapy online.

Now, if we get this early intervention right, we'll avoid the crisis care later that would be necessary. And it's really important in order to respond to the changing needs of the population in a period where there's been a societal trauma event, where it's clear that there are raised levels of anxiety in our population.

Writing a programme and ensuring buy-in is difficult, and that's what we've tried to do with 'Together for Mental Health', but making sure that those partners help us deliver on that and that we have a responsibility is actually a greater challenge. And in order to hit the targets we've set out in our strategy, I've established a new mental health ministerial delivery and oversight board in Wales, and that board met for the first time last week. And whilst I understand the pressure on the system, I am absolutely clear about my commitment to drive progress on work relating to mental health. So, I hope that what I've said today provides an assurance about our commitment to changing mental health needs, supported by additional, significant funding.

I'd like to thank the people who presented this issue to the Senedd and for drawing attention to this important issue. I hope you'll agree that we've delivered on the request for more funding and we are putting very clear measures in place to improve waiting times for people in crisis. Diolch.

Thank you. Can I now call on Janet Finch-Saunders to reply to the debate?

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this debate, including the Minister for responding. I also want to say a huge thank you to Laura Williams for her continued campaigning on this vital issue. We need people like Laura to continue raising their voices and to tell us when they believe that things need to change. I also actually want to put on record our thanks to Laura for her bravery in telling us her own personal story.

So, given the short time left available in this Senedd term, it will be a future Petitions Committee and the next Senedd who will pick up this petition following today's debate. In the meantime, I do know that staff working in mental health services across Wales will continue to give their all to people who need support, and I want to close by also giving them our grateful thanks for the work that they do. We must support them to deliver our better aims. Diolch yn fawr.

Thank you. The proposal is to note the petition. Does any Member object? No, therefore the petition is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.