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Labour calls for urgent action to deal with shortcomings in mental health provision following the judgment of Sir James Munby

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health, has today written to Jeremy Hunt, following the judgment of Sir James Munby in the case of the young person referred to as X, calling on the Health Secretary to take personal action today to ensure the allocation of a supportive and safe placement for the young person X.  

In the letter, Keeley urges Hunt to take heed of the ‘scathing words in this judgment’ and take immediate action to deal with the shortcomings in our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. To achieve this, Keeley calls on the Government to announce extra funding for those services and commit to ring-fencing funding both for CAMHS and mental health services more generally.

Ends

Notes to editors

Full text of the letter

Dear Jeremy,

I am writing to you following the judgment of Sir James Munby in the Family Division of the High Court on 3rd August in the case of the young person referred to as X. The scathing words in this judgment stand as a warning of the need for urgent action to improve the care available for children and young people in a mental health crisis.

The judge said:

“What this case demonstrates .. is the disgraceful and utterly shaming lack of proper provision in this country of the clinical, residential and other support services so desperately needed by the increasing numbers of children and young people afflicted with the same kind of difficulties as X is burdened with…

“If this is the best we can do for X, and others in similar crisis, what right do we, what right do the system, our society and indeed the State itself, have to call ourselves civilised? The honest answer to this question should make us all feel ashamed…

“If, when in eleven days’ time she is released from ZX, we, the system, society, the State, are unable to provide X with the supportive and safe placement she so desperately needs, and if, in consequence, she is enabled to make another attempt on her life, then I can only say, with bleak emphasis: we will have blood on our hands.”

On Monday of this week you defended your Government’s performance on mental health services by saying “Look at our record”. The judgment in the case of X allows us to make that examination and it finds current services seriously wanting.

There have been many reports warning of the current weaknesses of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. In a report in May 2016, the Children’s Commissioner reported that: “of particular concern were some of the 3,000 children and young people we heard about who were referred to CAMHS with a life-threatening condition (such as suicide, self-harm, psychosis and anorexia nervosa), of whom: – 14% were not allocated any provision; – 51% went on a waiting list; – some waited over 112 days to receive services.”

In October 2016, you said that CAMHS: “is possibly the biggest single area of weakness in NHS provision at the moment” and that there were “too many tragedies”.

Sir James Munby has expressed his fears about the worst potential outcome in this case. We must also be aware of other similar and pressing cases.

I urge you to take personal action today to ensure the allocation of a supportive and safe placement for the young person X.  I further urge you to make plans to deal with the shortcomings so clearly identified in our CAMHS services and to announce both extra funding for those  services and plans to ring-fence funding both for CAMHS and for mental health services more generally.

As Sir James Munby has said, if the current state of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services is the best we can do, what right does the State have to call itself civilised?

Given the level of public interest in this case, I will be making this letter public.

Yours sincerely,

Barbara Keeley MP

Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health

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Labour •

Green Party responds to GMB union report on “commuter hell”

4 August 2017

Responding to the report from the GMB union [1] which shows average commuter times have increased, especially for those in insecure work, Co-Leader of the Green Party Jonathan Bartley said:

“The Government needs to wake up to the realities of the modern world.  Commuter chaos resulting from the chronic failure of successive Governments to make the right transport choices is costing us all dear, whether it be robbing us of time with our friends and families, or diminishing productivity in the workplace.  

“The facts are clear.  The cost of motoring has steadily fallen in real terms for over 30 years while the cost of public transport has risen [2].  It is time that over dependency on congested and polluted roads ended, and investment in decent public transport was made a priority.  

“The way we think about work also needs to change. It’s time to move towards more flexible working practices that benefit everyone including moving toward a shorter working week. A healthy economy is one in which everyone sees the benefits of good jobs – not just in terms of decent pay and secure jobs, but also in working practices which will give us the decent quality of life we all deserve.”

Notes

[1] https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2017/08/03/union-reports-commuter-hell-due-to-longer-journey-times-by-roa/ 

[2] http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-02-10/223954/ 

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Green Party •

New future sought for West End Technopole site #dundeewestend

I have called on Dundee City Council to consider additional or alternative uses for the Technopole site in the West End (see photo below) that has sat largely empty for more than the previous decade.     
The site runs to the east of Annfield Road from Blackness Road in the north to Hawkhill to the south.   Funded originally to establish biotechnology, creative industries and digital media operations,  there is some business use of the site but much of it has not been developed and sits empty and, in parts, overgrown.

Following constituent concerns about the lack of progress in getting the remainder of the site filled with new businesses and it sitting largely empty, I contacted the council’s City Development Director earlier in the spring about it – to be advised :

“I can confirm that DCD Ltd only own one building within the Technopole which is the Incubator II building in James Lindsay Place. The remaining buildings and land is in City Council ownership.

The Technopole infrastructure was part funded through ERDF and uses for the site are currently restricted to biotechnology, creative industries and digital media operations. Scottish Government approval to alter these restrictions would be required. Notwithstanding this, consideration is being given to alternative uses of the site which would be subject to Scottish Government approval and planning consent.”

(For info – DCD Ltd – Dundee City Development Limited – was established by the City Council some years ago to assist capital growth so the whole site is in essentially in public ownership).

I have now written again to senior council officers asking for a progress report on alternative uses for the currently unused parts of the site.    I have also suggested that part of the unused part at the northern end nearest Blackness Road could be converted into some parking provision even short-term to assist residents and businesses in the eastern part of Blackness Road, where parking is difficult.

It is vital that proposals come forward to make better use of the currently unused parts of the Technopole site.    It has been under-used for years and this situation cannot continue.    Some short to medium term parking provision would be a boon whilst a longer-term strategy is being developed.
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Fraser Macpherson