New teams to support people with mental health needs in Welsh hospitals

New dedicated teams of staff to provide hands-on support for people with mental health needs will be set up in Welsh hospitals, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford has announced.

As part of £30m for mental health and older people in 2016-17, the Welsh Government will invest £2.3m to create new teams who will provide extra support, especially in the evening and at night, for people with mental health needs, including dementia.

An extra £1.5m is being made available to local primary care mental health support services to further support the Mental Health (Wales) Measure. This will provide more capacity to respond to people’s mental health needs locally.

£1.15m is being allocated for psychological therapies for inpatient older person and adult mental health services. This will support the additional investment of £1.9m in adult psychological therapy provision which was announced earlier this year.

The Minister today also announced:

• £1m non-recurrent funding to reduce waiting times for local memory clinics and initial assessment for dementia
• £325,000 for transitional/recovery support workers, who will be based in early intervention psychosis teams to promote active recovery for young people who have developed severe mental illnesses – evidence suggests this greatly improves long-term outcomes
• £329,000 of non-recurrent funding to promote and protect the rights of people without capacity
• £100,000 for a dementia campaign focusing on health promotion and prevention.

Professor Drakeford said:

“Mental health is the foundation of all health. One in every four of us can expect to suffer mental ill health and some point in our lives.

“That’s why we are investing more than ever before in mental health services in Wales – a clear demonstration of this government’s commitment to improving the health and mental wellbeing of people across the country.

“This will provide support for, among other groups, people with dementia and their families in the community.”

The £30m for mental health and older people for 2016-17 is in addition to the £15m-plus of recurrent funding announced in June 2015.