Holyrood 2021: Labour pledges mental health staff for all GP clinics
- Published
Anas Sarwar succeeded Richard Leonard as Scottish Labour leader last month
Scottish Labour has unveiled plans for "life-saving" mental health workers in every GP practice in Scotland.
Party leader Anas Sarwar announced the policy as he launched Labour's campaign for the Holyrood elections on 6 May.
A recent Mental Health Foundation, external study found 13% of people experienced distressing emotions last month - up from 10% during the first lockdown.
The Scottish Green Party has also promised to appoint a mental health worker for every doctor's surgery.
At the start of the first full week of campaigning Mr Sarwar said improving access to mental health treatment would be "front and centre" of Labour's recovery plan.
He explained: "We can't come through the collective trauma of Covid and go back to a system which fails people in need of life-saving mental health support.
"This election must be about delivering a national recovery plan that at its heart is about restoring our NHS."
Mr Sarwar, who succeeded Richard Leonard as Scottish Labour leader last month, said introducing mental health workers into GP clinics "could save countless lives" as well as help people rebuild their mental health after the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The politician raised the issue at First Minister's Questions, saying nearly 25,000 calls to Scotland's mental health crisis support line had gone unanswered during the pandemic.
A Freedom of Information request showed that 133 calls went unanswered in March of last year, but in January 2021 the number was 5,452.
Scottish Labour's proposals for Scotland's NHS also includes a catch-up plan for cancer screenings by increasing staff and processing capacity to clear the backlog of appointments within a year. The party says there are 7,000 missing cancer diagnoses as a result of Covid.
Labour also wants to create a national care service to transform social care, a pay rise for NHS staff and pay for social carers to rise to £15 an hour.
Mr Sarwar added that restoring the NHS must be the priority for the next parliament and not "settling old scores".
'Difficult year for so many'
Scottish Greens have said its forthcoming manifesto would commit to;
allocating 10% of frontline health spending on mental health by 2026
investing an additional £161m into child and adolescent mental health services
and "expand access" to services like cognitive behavioural therapy and social prescribing.
The party's co-leader Patrick Harvie said: "Just like physical health, everyone can have poor mental health at some point in their lives, and the pandemic has been a difficult year for so many. We've seen how important access to green space and the outdoors is to our wellbeing.
"The Scottish Greens will pursue an ambitious preventative agenda, but also invest in the treatments people often wait too long for."
An SNP spokesman said that the past year had seen an "immense strain" placed on mental health and support services.
He added that Scottish government had committed £16bn to the health budget including £1.1bn for mental health.
The spokesman said: "We recognise the role GP surgeries can play in supporting mental health and will set out proposals in our manifesto."
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie was at Dunfermline Abbey where he announced details of his party's plans for education
Elsewhere on the campaign trail the Scottish Conservatives announced a manifesto pledge to build 60,000 affordable homes over the next parliamentary term, including 40,000 in the social rented sector - around 8,000 a year.
Leader Douglas Ross said he would introduce a Communities Bill to place obligations on councils and developers that would ensure new housing is matched with increased support for local services like schools and roads.
He said: "We are setting bold targets for the next Scottish Parliament to launch the biggest social housing drive since devolution began and to restore the construction sector to the housebuilding levels we saw pre-SNP and pre-financial crash.
"It won't be easy but we need plans to rebuild Scotland that meet the scale of the economic challenge facing us."
Meanwhile, the Scottish Liberal Democrats said making the age of when children start school to seven would give youngsters a "flying start".
Leader Willie Rennie said: "At the forthcoming election, Scottish Liberal Democrats will ask voters to back us to put the education system first. Scottish Liberal Democrats will introduce a truly play-based education until age seven, to give every child a flying start.
"By learning together through play, children develop the skills needed for trickier tasks and are better prepared to shine in areas like literacy and numeracy."
SCOTLAND'S ELECTION: THE BASICS
What elections are happening? On 6 May, people across Scotland will vote to elect 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The party that wins the most seats will form the Scottish government. Find out more here.
What powers does the Scottish Parliament have? MSPs pass laws on most aspects of day-to-day life in Scotland, such as health, education and transport. They also have control over some taxes and welfare benefits. Defence, foreign policy and immigration are decided by the UK Parliament.
How do I vote? Anyone who lives in Scotland and is registered to vote is eligible, so long as they are aged 16 or over on the day of the election. You can register to vote online, external.
- Published27 February 2021
- Published14 January 2021
