12th November 2024

Commenting on the 2023 Scottish Health Survey, Billy Watson, Chief Executive of SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), said:

“It’s heartening to see some improvements in our national mental wellbeing. We certainly need to take the positives where we can find them, because collectively our mental wellbeing is still worse than before the pandemic.

“Waiting times are still too long, suicides are still too high, and younger people and people from deprived backgrounds are still much more likely to be affected by poor mental health. We need to see substantial investment in the community-based, preventive support available to people with mental health problems, and that has to start with December’s budget.”