1. What is the Welsh Government doing to tackle mental health waiting lists in Wales? OQ57840

We are prioritising an additional £50 million, £75 million and £90 million ring-fenced funding for mental health for 2022‑23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 respectively. This is in addition to the £760 million invested annually in the local health board mental health ring fence, and will support the continued transformation of our mental health services to provide earlier intervention and to reduce the need for more specialist services.

Thank you, Minister, for that response. Last year, I questioned you over the referral times in the Cardiff and Vale health board area, and in particular the woeful referral times of the 28-day assessment period, where Cardiff and Vale were only assessing a third of patients, as opposed to a Welsh average of two thirds of patients. Additional money has been made available by the Welsh Government—considerable additional money has been made available. Very often it's not just about the money, it's about how that's implemented. Can you update me as to what improvements patients within the Cardiff and Vale area have seen because of that money and, importantly, what are the latest up-to-date timings regarding referral times? Because a third in 28 days of patients presenting is just not good enough.  

Can I thank the Member for that supplementary question? I share his concerns about the continued difficulties with waiting times in Cardiff and Vale. I have met Cardiff and Vale three times separately to discuss, in detail, their approach to managing their waiting times. I think it is important to recognise that they face particular challenges in Cardiff and Vale. Two thirds of children who are waiting in Wales are actually on the Cardiff and Vale waiting list for specialist child and adolescent mental health services, and also Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is dealing with a unique set of circumstances.

In November 2021 the health board reported a 27 per cent increase in referrals for primary care CAMHS, and 17 per cent in specialist CAMHS. I know from my discussions with Cardiff and Vale—and I absolutely agree with you that it's not just about money—they are carrying a lot of vacancies still and, despite their best efforts, are finding it very difficult to recruit to those vacancies. They are now looking at different options to fill those posts. I've also asked the NHS delivery unit to specifically look at Cardiff and Vale and to look at what support can be made available. We're also looking at what other support we can provide as a Welsh Government and as part of the service improvement funding that we'll be investing over the next three years. I've also made it clear to all health boards that I expect them to provide a detailed plan setting out how they will reduce waiting times.

I should also add that Cardiff and Vale are taking other steps to try and manage their waiting times, in terms of accessing a digital offer to bring down waiting times. They're investing in the third sector and looking at more support through training peer support workers. So, there is lots of work in train, but more to be done. But, just to assure the Member, I will be meeting with Cardiff and Vale again in the not-too-distant future and I'm continuing to have that dialogue with them about their waiting times. 

Thank you. I'm very interested in your answer and I appreciate the interest you're taking in Cardiff and the Vale. Talking to my constituents, I find that far too many patients who are approaching their doctor because they've got low mood, loneliness or anxiety are offered a script rather than other talking therapies or other things, which just masks the problem and it can lead to long-term issues like agoraphobia. So, what is your strategy for increasing the number of people offered social prescribing to promote well-being, which would then free up the time of the mental health experts that we're having such difficulty recruiting to concentrate on those acute and enduring mental health problems? 

Thank you very much for that question, Jenny, and I'm very supportive of social prescribing as a way of linking people to community-based, non-clinical support, and regard such support as a really key part of our preventative agenda. You'll be aware that we have a programme for government commitment to have an all-Wales framework to support social prescribing. That framework is going to outline what best practice looks like in Wales, but very importantly is not going to dictate what is delivered in different communities, because there is already some excellent practice out there. My officials are currently engaging with a range of stakeholders on the proposed model, and that will be published then for formal consultation in May. And you'll be pleased to know that also, from April, our new health and social care regional integration fund is going to continue to support the social prescribing models that we know are so important.

Also, we're continuing to invest very heavily as a Government in lower level, tier 0 support, because, as you say, lots of people who seek referrals for their mental health don't actually need specialist support. So, we're continuing to invest in the call helpline. We're actually expanding—we've announced £7 million to expand the online cognitive behavioural therapy, SilverCloud, including expanding that to children. And we're looking at what more we can do with our increased funding over the next three years to actually boost that tier 0, lower level support to avoid difficulties escalating.