Dr Mary McCarthy: Mental health services need more support

Throughout history, mental health has carried with it a certain taboo and, since the origin of the NHS, has often been considered the poor cousin.

In the 1940s, 50s and 60s, there was an abundance of physical diseases as tuberculosis and polio were still rife as much of the focus on health services was on treating physical illness.

With medical advancement much more has been done over the last decades in relation to mental health as there has been a dramatic improvement in our understanding of various mental conditions, but we still have much further to go.

It was recently reported that over a two-year period, in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin, there 130 deaths attributed to suicide, whilst in the year 2016/17, there were almost 400 admissions to Shropshire and Telford's A&Es that were recorded as self-harm.

We can no longer afford to ignore this issue. The story is indeed similar throughout the rest of the UK as services for mental health have never received appropriate levels of funding and unsurprisingly, mental health care has suffered.

This is particularly noticeable with young people’s mental health services where late diagnosis and poor support during teenage years mean that adults are still trying to cope with childhood problems years later.

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHs) have been short of resources and staff for years and where there ought to be an instant appointment for troubled teenagers, families are often waiting months for an appointment.

There has also been an increase in some parts of the country in the numbers of young people who are being forced to travel out of area to receive the appropriate level of mental health treatment. Lack of funding and subsequent bed shortages are pushing some services to capacity so that patients and their relatives are being unfairly distressed.

Poverty is another factor that is seriously affecting the health and wellbeing of many children who are bearing the brunt of housing, food and financial insecurity.

A recent report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Child Poverty Action Group paints a very worrying picture of the wellbeing of children in low-income households. It is now estimated that 4 million young people in the UK live in poverty and this is likely to rise to 5 million by 2020.

For a leading European country this is appalling. Not only will the health of these young people be affected, they will likely be more susceptible to mental health issues as well as the parents who are at greater risk of anxiety, stress and depression.

Whilst the main parties in the upcoming general election pledge will promise to make greater strides to improve mental health, the promise needs to action.

Mental health services are not an afterthought – they are a necessity. I hope the next government realises this and reverses the tide which has left so many people struggling to get the care they need.

* Dr Mary McCarthy is chair of the local medical committee and represents Shropshire, North Staffordshire and South Staffordshire on the General Practitioners Committee of the BMA. She has worked at Belvidere Surgery in Shrewsbury for more than 20 years.