Call for North Wales mental health patients to be treated close to home

A call has been made for mental health patients from North Wales to be treated as close to home as possible.

It follow a local Senedd Member highlighting the case of a constituent who was sent to Durham as there were no mental health beds available in the region.

The issue was raised in the Welsh Parliament yesterday (Tuesday) by Clwyd West MS Darren Millar.

Speaking in the chamber, the Conservative politician asked for a statement on “the significant cost of placing people with mental health problems outside of Wales”.

He said: “We know that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, just in the first three months of this year, has spent over £3.5 million sending mental health patients out of North Wales for care in other parts of the country.

“I had a constituent, who contacted me back in February, whose family member had been placed in Durham for a mental health bed because there wasn’t the capacity in North Wales.

“Clearly, that’s unacceptable. We need to make sure that people are treated as closely to home as possible.

“I accept that there are specialist mental health services that people might need to access, but this was a general mental health in-patient bed, and that should have been available in North Wales.

“I’m very concerned that there isn’t the capacity in our NHS, particularly in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, to be able to care for mental health patients in the region.”

Responding, the Trefnydd, Jane Hutt MS, said: “There are pressures on services, but it’s being recognised that this is an issue that is being addressed, indeed, for all generations, and for health boards to take this as a priority.

“I’m just looking at the percentage for local primary mental health support services, and it’s important to see that therapeutic interventions are starting to take place a percentage higher than previous months in terms of numbers of days to wait for that.

“Also, the percentage of patients who receive secondary mental health care and have a valid care and treatment plan, we are recognising that that’s a priority.

“Clearly, this is something that the Minister for Mental Health and Early Years will be reporting on.”