1 in 7 senior mental health roles missing a permanent appointee

After new research by his party revealed that around 1 in 7 senior mental health roles are either vacant or being filled by locums, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has said that only his party has a realistic plan to create world-class mental health services.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to health boards has revealed that:

• 85 consultant psychiatrist roles out of 600 whole time equivalent roles (WTE) across Scotland are currently vacant.
• The health board with the highest number of vacancies is NHS Lanarkshire, which currently has at least 36 WTE vacancies. There also major shortages in Fife and Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have set out their manifesto plans to: 

• Recruit and retain mental health staff under a new rolling 10-year NHS workforce plan
• Provide new walk-in services to meet the needs of people in distress or crisis, working alongside and learning from SAMH’s pioneering Nook network
• Ramp up training so that every workplace can benefit from a mental health first aider. 
• Shorten the mental health waiting times target once they are consistently being met, because 18 weeks is too long to routinely wait for treatment to begin. 
• Demand UK-wide film-style age ratings for harmful social media platforms, restricting addictive algorithmic feeds designed to keep children endlessly doom-scrolling at the expense of their mental health. 

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Scotland deserves world-class mental health services but on the SNP’s watch, a significant number of the most senior mental health roles are either lying empty or being filled on a temporary basis.

"Getting you the care you need, when you need it, starts with training and retaining doctors, nurses and all the other staff that make our NHS tick. It's why we will launch a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan to get on top of what our health service needs.

"We have a realistic plan to get things done and deliver first-rate healthcare, so you can see your GP, dentist or mental health professional when you need them.

"In many constituencies we are on the verge of winning against the SNP, but wherever you are, every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second, peach, regional ballot paper will deliver change with fairness at its heart.

“Scotland's NHS deserves better, and with the Scottish Liberal Democrats you can vote for it.”