Plymouth mental health referrals double

But service is coping

Mental health services in Plymouth are coping with a huge increase in demand since the beginning of the pandemic. 

On Thursday, Plymouth City Council’s health and wellbeing board heard from Sara Mitchell, strategic mental health lead at Livewell Southwest, about the strategies in place to support people with mental illness in the city. 

Ms Mitchell explained how demand for services is likely to increase with the current cost of living crisis and post-covid concerns.

No services for people with serious mental health illnesses (SMI) were halted during the pandemic. New systems were also put in place such as a first-response team for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis and as well as a primary care mental health offer to try to prevent escalation to secondary care.

But Ms Mitchell said demand for services had almost doubled. “The number of referrals accepted now compared to pre-pandemic is significantly higher,” she said.

“So we’ve got here the numbers of 23,000 are now accepted compared to 12,500 [pre-pandemic].”  

Ms Mitchell also explained how people with learning disabilities are much more likely to be affected by covid.

A report to the wellbeing board highlighted people with learning disabilities are six times more likely to die from covid than the rest of the population due to factors such greater chance of being obese, long term health conditions such a diabetes, heart conditions and respiratory conditions. 

The report added: “This is partly due to people with a learning disability’s under-privileged position in society and barriers to access health care when needed.”

But Ms Mitchell said that despite the doubling of people being referred, their services were managing and adapting to meet demand. 

In addition to existing initiatives such as the 24-hour-a-day “first-response” crisis line, Ms Mitchell pointed to new projects that support individuals and take pressure off hospital emergency departments (EDs).

“Our offer of group work, with our frequent users, now extends to ED,” she said. “So we have a pathway straight from ED into primary care and mental health. 

“That’s something that’s very, very new. It’s over the last six weeks we started that and I’m very, very optimistic that will give a really good offer for people who frequently attend ED because of the level of moderate mental health distress that they experience.”

Livewell Southwest says it will continue to promote the first-response team and crisis line and ensure their primary care mental health service provides a pathway to people who frequently use emergency departments. 

In 2019 the Conservatives said the NHS long-term plan, which includes commitments on young people’s mental health, would be made law. They pledged to  treat mental health with the same urgency as physical health. 

On a recent visit to Plymouth, shadow mental health minister Rosena Allin-Khan outlined Labour’s plans for mental health services, including recruiting 8,500 mental health staff “to ensure people can be seen within a month of referral.” 

Labour also promises to guarantee a counsellor in every school.