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Community mental health support to be expanded

  • Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 13th January 2022

The expansion follows the Scottish Government's commitment to ensure every GP practice has a mental health and wellbeing service by 2026.

The Scottish Government have announced funding of up to £40 million per year (this link will take you away from our website) to provide more mental health and wellbeing services in GP practices and other community settings. This will enable patients seeking mental health support to access a range of services via their local surgery, without needing to see their GP or receive a formal referral to a specialist service.

Initial funding of £1.5 million comes from the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, and it is estimated that by the end of this parliament total investment through this route will reach £100 million. Further community support including for addition, social security and food banks, will be signposted by dedicated link workers.

In their most recent programme for government, the Scottish Government stated their aim that “by 2026, every GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service, funding 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.”

The ALLIANCE have welcomed this commitment, and our own Community Links Practitioner (CLP) programme currently employs 55 links workers across Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire. Data from March 2021 indicates that a total of 218 CLPs had been recruited under the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, alongside a forecast of 298 additional mental health workers by March 2022.

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