Councillor Lesley Brennan :
Health Board questioned on progress on psychological therapies
provision
29 September
2012
Lesley Brennan,
Councillor for East End Ward on Dundee City Council , is writing to NHS Tayside
asking the health board what progress it is making to ensure that the health
board meets a target of providing quicker access to mental health services by
delivering a maximum waiting time of 18 weeks for referral to treatment for
psychological therapies from December 2014.
The new target
times for referral to psychological therapies replaced the Scottish Government
target to reduce the consumption of anti-depressants .
Ms. Brennan is asking the board for details of the average time
and longest waiting time for a referral to clinical psychology, and for the
current numbers on their waiting lists.
She said,
“The health board report that they now ‘regularly meet’ the
18-week target apart from the specialities of Clinical Health Psychology and
Clinical Neuropsychology.
“They say that they have pinpointed extra resources to fund more
posts in applied psychology to help meet the targets for these two
specialities.”
She
commented, “While anti-depressants have a role to play, people with mild and moderate depression can benefit from psychological therapies based on counselling and cognitive behaviour .
“ Such conditions of depression are a major public health concern.
“Therefore, we have to ensure that people can take advantage of psychological therapies to help minimise the prospects of their condition worsening or becoming long-lasting.”
The Scottish
Government has dropped its target to halt the increase in anti-depressant use .
It has since
been replaced by the new target to “deliver faster access to mental health
services by delivering 18 weeks referral to treatment for psychological
therapies from December 2014.”