Call for 10% mental health funding at SNP conference
Change Mental Health attended this year’s SNP party political conference, placing the demand for 10% funding for mental health services at the heart of their asks. This call is in line with the SNP’s 2021 Scottish Parliament election commitment to dedicate 10% of the total NHS budget to mental health by the end of the current parliament, a promise reiterated by the Scottish Government.
Currently, the spend is estimated at 8.8% which is a shortfall of £180m each year. The 10% threshold was closest to being met back in 2008/09 at 9.7%.
Change Mental Health have worked collaboratively with the Scottish Mental Health Partnership, a group of 17 mental health organisations over the last few years to push for the SNP Scottish Government to meet their commitments on mental health funding.
Change Mental Health used the opportunity to call on the SNP Scottish Government to show how and when they intend to achieve the 10% funding figure.
We are also using this opportunity to show what the Scottish Government could do with an extra £180m in the mental health budget every year.
As part of the conference, Change Mental Health also hosted a fringe event with the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, Maree Todd MSP. The event focused on the future of mental health in Scotland, allowing us to clearly state the need for extending mental health funding to 10% of the total NHS spend.
As well as the Minister, the fringe event panel included Jim Hume, our Director of Public Affairs and Communications; Wendy Halliday, the Director of See Me Scotland, the Scottish anti-stigma charity and Dr Clare Daly, our North Area manager.
The event reflected on the rightly ambitious mental health strategy published by the Scottish Government last year, the continued role that stigma plays in mental health treatment, the difficulty of providing services in rural Scotland, and the need to gather better data to ensure that rural Scotland is not left behind in mental healthcare.
As the Scottish Government sets out its Programme for Government on Wednesday this week, we will be looking closely to scrutinise their plans for mental health.
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