Mohammad Yasin MP

WORDS FROM

Mohammad Yasin, MP for Bedford and Kempston

This October’s World Mental Health Day provided an opportunity for all of us to think about what we can do to help improve our own mental health and the people we care for.

This year’s theme is ‘Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority’. The pandemic and Putin’s war in Europe has certainly brought the world together in shared challenges but the impact these events are having on our mental health and wellbeing is huge. There is also deep anxiety in the national psyche about the cost-of-living crisis

It’s therefore deeply concerning that the new Health Secretary hasn’t included mental health in her NHS priorities and did not mention mental health once in her speech to Conservative conference. This despite mental health issues, especially amongst children and young people being at record highs.

In response, Bedfordshire and Luton Child and adolescent mental health services (CAHMS) have recently streamlined access to services. They realised that getting the support residents need for themselves or loved ones has been too challenging in the past, so they’ve simplified the urgent referral process to a Single Point of Access (SPOE) system. If the referral is not an emergency crisis referral, CAMHS aim to respond to everyone within five working days.

The ongoing problem is the waiting list for treatment and where to place people if they need to be admitted for appropriate care. Bedford has been promised a new in-patient mental health facility since provision at the Weller Wing was closed in 2017, yet patients are still travelling 20-40 miles to access services. We’ve had 5 Health Secretaries in that time. Yet despite plans for a new mental health facility for adults and children in Bedford being well underway, with the funding sitting in the East London Foundation Trust’s bank account, the Government hasn’t given the green light to the New Hospitals Programme which would be the source of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit cover - the main obstacle to the progress of the desperately needed site.

None of this deters the community and charity sector’s response to mental health. The Bedfordshire Wellbeing Service and CHUMS, Emotional Wellbeing Service are literally a lifeline to some of my constituents. I’m always impressed with the work of FACES, an independent charity in Bedford offering practical and emotional support to families and children under stress. The Mind mental health café at Florence Ball House on Kimbolton Road provides free advice, support and a safe place for anyone over 18 experiencing a mental health crisis.

But the charity sector is itself struggling with the costof-living and can only ever do so much. Government has to do much more to revitalise mental health services. And Labour has set out a series of pledges to begin that process including a guarantee for every person that needs it, to access mental heath treatment within a month. We want to see specialist mental health support in every school and 8,500 new mental health staff to enable a million more people to access services. Early intervention is key. If we want growth, we need a healthy, happy population who are fit and able to work.