ScotGov suicide prevention bid 'doomed' by £80m mental health spend cut

If the 2022/23 budget had at least kept up with inflation the planned spend would have been at £316m in 2023/24 and at £343m in 2024/25.

Meanwhile it has emerged that the number of probable suicides in Scotland has risen from 680 in the pre-pandemic year of 2017 to 762 in 2022. There has been 2320 suicides in the the three years since the start of the pandemic from 2020 to 2022 - 75 higher than the three-year average of the previous six pre-pandemic years of 2245.

House of Commons research has found that the suicide rate in Scotland has been consistently higher than that in Northern Ireland, Wales and England. And the rate of suicide deaths in the most deprived areas in Scotland was 2.6 times higher than in the least deprived areas in Scotland. That is higher than the deprivation gap of 1.8 times for all causes of death.

READ MORE: 'There is always hope': Raw data and addressing suicide in Scotland

In September, 2022, the Scottish Government and the local authority group COSLA set out a Creating Hope Together plan running to 2025 with a target to reduce the number of suicide deaths.

Support organisation Samaritans Scotland, which has provided a vital lifeline for people in crisis and distress for more than six decades has warned ministers that the state of the mental health budget meant it was "difficult to envision the target being met and sufficent funding being made available for mental health."

Ministers had promised to commit 10% of the total NHS spend to mental health. A number of leading mental health organisations have said an additional £180 million is needed to meet the commitment.

Samaritans Scotland said that at present there is "no indication" that the Scottish Government will meet its own target of increasing mental health spend to 10% of NHS budget given the failure to increase funding for 2024/25.

"It is important to recognise that Creating Hope Together is an ambitious strategy and Scottish Government must ensure that sufficient funding is available to meaningfully deliver on this ambition throughout the strategy period," the group has said.

"There being non increase to the mental health directorate budget for the second successive year is in effect a large real terms pay cut.

"Front line services, including the Samaritans’ Listening Service, have a key part to play in reducing suicide in Scotland. At present there is not enough money in the system to ensure these services can be provided in the long term.

"We know that to ensure fewer lives are lost to suicide, we must be accessible to anyone who is experiencing distress, not just those experiencing suicidal crisis."

It will cost the Samaritans £7.3 million to operate the Listening Service across the UK and Ireland in the latest year and they estimate that in Scotland this amounts to around £600,000.

"We work hard to secure the necessary funding to deliver our Listening Service and ensure we are there for those who need us most. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult and we need to see greater commitment to funding the service in the long term," they said.

Scottish Action for Mental Health strategy has also raised concerns over funding saying that the Scottish Government have only committed to direct funding to support their strategy of £2.8m per year by 2025-26, with £2.5m spend in 2023-24.

"We do not believe sufficient funding has been made available to fully implement the strategy and action plan. This is a particular concern in the context of a downturn in the economic cycle, which is associated with increased risk of suicide," said the group on a briefing.

They say that indicative of this "lack of resource" is that, of the £2.5m spend in 2023-24, £600,000 has been allocated to continued funding of the suicide bereavement pilot services and improvements to crisis responses.

They say that if the intention is to fully roll out services across all areas of Scotland using the same model as the pilot, "significantly more funding" than the total direct spending commitment of £2.8m per year to support the entire strategy would be required for the bereavement service commitment alone.

They say that when compared to historic spending during the Choose Life National Strategy spending levels today are significantly lower.

Choose Life was backed by a budget of £12m over the first three years between 2003 and 2006 while the second phase between 2006 and 2009 was supported by £8.4m.   Some £2m of this went to national activities supported by a national programme of research and evaluation, with local authorities receiving £6.4m to support local action plans.

"We believe that at least comparable spending is required to achieve the aim of reducing deaths by suicide, particularly in the context of the ongoing cost of living crisis," the group has told ministers.

"There is a real risk that effective preventative actions or responses to suicide – such as post-suicide bereavement support – will be restricted to limited pilot areas, and not fully rolled out despite positive evaluations."

A YouGov poll of 1,103 people in Scotland last year revealed 53% of Scots are not confident they or a family member could access mental health support, if needed.

While only 11% were optimistic that mental health services will improve over the next two years.

And 58% think that not enough is being spent on mental health from the Scottish Government’s health budget.

An annual survey suggests mental wellbeing in Scotland is at its lowest level on record.

The annual survey, published by the Scottish Centre for Social Research and the Scottish government, involved 4,394 adults and 1,764 children.

It said the average score for adults on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) was 47 in 2022, compared with 50 in 2008, when the survey began.

The worst mental wellbeing was reported in those from the most deprived 20% of Scotland, with 44.7, while those in the most affluent areas reported an average of 48.3.

Those aged between 45 and 54 were found to have, on average, the worst mental health.

The survey from last year also shows a steady increase in the number of adults who have reported self-harming or attempting suicide.

The number of adults that reported feeling lonely, all or most of the time increased from 8% in 2021 to 11% in 2022, with younger adults more likely to feel lonely.

There was also an increase in adults reporting two or more symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Mental wellbeing minister Maree Todd said: “Every suicide is a tragedy with a far reaching impact on family, friends and society. We are committed to addressing this and improving mental health.

"We have exceeded our commitment to fund over 800 additional mental health workers in A&E departments, GP practices, police custody suites and prisons. We have also invested £51 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund which has a strong emphasis on the key themes of prevention and early intervention, suicide prevention and addressing social isolation. Around 3,300 grants have been provided and a further £15 million is available in 2024/25.

“The new investment will bring our funding for preventative community-based supports to over £130 million since 2020. 

“While the 2024-25 budget is the most challenging to be delivered under devolution, it provides more than £19.5 billion for health and social care.  In 2024-25 the Scottish Government and NHS Boards expect to spend in excess of £1.3 billion to support mental health services and support – a doubling of the budget in cash terms since 2006, enabling record numbers of staff to provide more varied support and services to a larger number of people than ever before.”