Mental health funding in Scotland
Following a request from the Scottish Labour Party, RCPsych in Scotland recently created a briefing around mental health funding.
This was for a Parliamentary Motion they hoped to raise ahead of a debate on the issue.
For a while now, the Scottish Government has been promising they’ll “progress towards a commitment to ensure that by the end of the Parliament term – 10% of frontline NHS budget will be invested in mental health.”
But not much progress has been made so far and the Scottish team’s briefing included real term funding trends in Scotland – and compared these to statistics from England and Wales.
Jackie Baillie MSP and Carol Mochan MSP used the RCPsych in Scotland briefing to introduce the motion, with the MSPs calling on the Scottish Government to ensure 11% of the frontline health budget is spent on mental health to bring Scotland into line with “Labour-controlled Wales”.
However, the SNP managed to amend the motion removing any reference to their commitments.
Maree Todd MSP, minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport stood up in the Scottish Parliament during the debate and made reference to their manifesto commitment. She said:
“We are aiming for 10% of the health budget to be spent on mental health and we are on track to reach that aim.”
It remains to be seen if any real progress will be made. The team in Scotland will continue to work hard to campaign on this issue – both politically and in the media.