Mental health delivery and workforce plans published
- Area of Work: Policy and Research
- Type: News Item
- Published: 7th November 2023
The plans outline the actions both Scottish and Local governments will take to deliver on the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
The Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) have jointly published the ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan 2023-2025‘ and accompanying ‘Workforce Action Plan‘ for 2023-2025. These follow the publication in June of the ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy‘, and describe the actions that will be taken forward at both national and local level to deliver on the strategy.
The Delivery Plan aims to achieve nine outcomes that should result from the strategy, including improved overall mental wellbeing and reduced inequalities; more effective cross-policy action to address factors impacting mental health and wellbeing; and better access to and use of evidence and data in policy and practice. Delivery against those outcomes is intended to be achieved through 10 priorities which include; tackling mental health stigma and discrimination; increase mental health capacity within general practice and primary care; and strengthening support and care pathways for people requiring neurodevelopmental support.
The Workforce Action Plan is centred around five overarching aims:
- Plan, which includes actions aimed to ensuring the availability of support at the right place and time
- Attract, which includes actions to support people into the mental health and wellbeing workforce
- Train, which includes actions to upskill the workforce and support them with new technology
- Employ, which includes actions to embed Fair Work principles and growth within the workforce
- Nurture, which includes actions to improve working conditions and support
As a member of the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Equality and Human Rights Stakeholder Forum, the ALLIANCE provided input to the draft mental health and wellbeing strategy and delivery plans. We welcome the delivery plan actions, including Action 4.4.3, which seeks to “work with key partners to understand the mental health harms related to gambling and explore ways to raise awareness of these harms and support people effectively.” In September 2023, the ALLIANCE Scotland Reducing Gambling Harms programme published an event report exploring the link between mental health and gambling harm. Amongst the other actions in the plans, the ALLIANCE and partners – including Voices of Experience (VOX) Scotland – were involved in developing a set of ‘core mental health standards‘ that were published earlier this year. An easy read version of the delivery plan is available from the Scottish Government website.
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