A SAMH thank you
21st August 2017
Blog by Debbie Horne, SAMH Public Affairs Assistant.
Last month we asked for your help and what a response we received! We were thrilled 319 of you took the time to fill out our survey about NHS mental health services.
You helped inform our response to the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee’s consultation on clinical governance in the NHS. With the experiences of over 300 people who have used NHS mental health services behind us we were able to use your voices in our response - letting the Health and Sport Committee hear directly from you.
Our survey asked for your views on the care you received whilst using NHS mental health services. We heard about your experiences - good and bad, uplifting and at times concerning. The results from our survey show;
- Eighty-three per cent of respondents were confident they would be treated in a safe environment
- Sixty per cent were confident they would receive a high quality of care
- Almost half had received care of an unacceptable quality
- Almost two-fifths were not as involved in agreeing their care as they wanted to be
- Almost 80% had never been asked what NHS mental health services they would like in their area
- Four in five people did not know about systems in place to detect and deal with unacceptable care
SAMH was reassured to hear the majority of you felt confident that you would be treated in a safe place and would receive a high quality of care. However, we are worried that four in ten people are not confident they will receive a high quality of care. We told the Committee to focus on the safety of services and on the need to make improvements that would make sure everyone could be confident the care they receive will be high quality.
Most worrying were the stories you told us about unacceptable and unsafe care you had received. Whenever or wherever any of us require treatment for our mental health, we think the care provided must be high quality and NHS services must be a place of safety.
You also told us about the long waits people sometimes face to access an initial appointment with a mental health professional. We think this is unacceptable.
The Scottish Government, in the new Mental Health Strategy published earlier this year, have accepted SAMH’s call for an ‘Ask Once Get Help Fast’ approach. We told the Committee that for true equality to exist between mental and physical health, fast, safe and effective treatment must become the reality for those seeking help.
To the over 300 people who responded and informed our response – a massive SAMH thank you!
Your views are off to Committee and we’ll keep you updated on the results of the consultation.
If you would like to support SAMH in our latest campaign on children and young people’s mental health - join us here!
