Mental health in Scotland: a 10 year vision (easy read)

Mental Health in Scotland - a 10 year vision

What is this document for?

We have a mental health plan in Scotland. We would like to know what you think about this plan.

The new Mental Health plan

The new Mental Health plan will be ready in late 2016. This plan will last for 10 years.

We spoke to interested people and groups to help us make the plan.

We would now like to know what you think about:

• What is important to mental health in Scotland
• The things we will do
• How we measure the success of the plan

There are questions at the end of this document.

There will also be some public events over the summer to talk about the new plan.

The new Mental Health plan: what is important

Our plan says what we think are the most important things needed to improve mental health.

These are based around stages in our life:

• Start Well - children and young people should have good mental health. We will act early to solve problems.
• Live Well - supporting people to look after themselves to stay mentally and physically healthy. They should get help quickly and when they need it. We will reduce inequalities for people with mental health problems.
• Age Well - ensuring that older people with mental health problems have access to support. They live well for as long as possible at home.

This plan does not show all things that will happen to support mental health but the following things are important.

1. Focus on prevention and early intervention for pregnant women and new mothers.

What we will do

We want to improve mental health after mothers have had a baby. This will be done by having a network of specialist staff working together.

Results we want to see

Health services can work better on mental health issues of pregnant women and new mothers.

It will be better for children.

2. Focus on prevention and early intervention for infants, children and young people.

What we will do

We will use evidence to target groups of infants, and children and young people. This will be delivered by children's mental health services.

Complete a roll-out of targeted plans for parents of 3- and 4-year olds with bad behaviour.

Improve treatment of psychosis which is a severe mental disorder.

Develop actions to support health and wellbeing of children and young people

Use our services to support good mental health, prevention and early intervention.

Results we want to see

Children's mental health services focus on making mental health better and getting in quickly if something goes wrong.

Children's mental health services can quickly see things that can cause mental health problems.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health services and other mental health services work together better to make sure children, young people and families get the help they need quickly.

Improved long term outcomes for vulnerable groups.

3. New ways of supporting mental health in primary care.

What we will do

Test and measure the best ways of supporting mental health in health care settings such as your Doctors surgery.

Results we want to see

Easy access to mental health support in health care settings. This includes access to information, peer support, social support and employability support.

The needs of people with mental health issues are identified more quickly and supported in a variety of places.

Increase the use of care plans to identify problems and solutions in people's lives. Be better prepared for when something goes wrong.

4. Support people to manage their own mental health

What we will do

Develop more accessible self-help resources.

Increase the number of workers in health care settings. They will provide information to help people to manage the effects of their condition and support people to access and stay in work.

Results we want to see

People are better able to manage their own mental wellbeing in the community.

5. Improve access to mental health services and make them more efficient, effective and safe - which is also part of early intervention.

What we will do

We will prepare a new mental health outcomes plan.

Support the Scottish Patient Safety Programme in Mental Health.

Improve access to mental health services. This will reduce waiting times.

Improve access to therapies.

Results we want to see

Better services to treat mental health problems. These will be the same all over Scotland.

Services work together at all times.

Improve access to support for older people with mental health problems.

6. Improve the physical health of people with severe and enduring mental health problems to address premature death.

What we will do

Measure the plan to increase the physical activity levels of people living with mental and physical health issues.

Other prevention work should be accessible to people with mental health problems. This could be information on stopping smoking or drinking alcohol.

Look at physical health issues caused by medication for mental health problems.

Results we want to see

People with mental health problems live longer. They have a better quality of life.

Less people die due to severe mental health problems.

7. Focus on 'All of Me': Ensure equality between mental health and physical health.

What we will do

We will develop mentally and physically healthy workplaces.

We will ensure that employment and welfare programmes understand mental health conditions.

Work closer with other health improvement work trying to improve what people eat and how much exercise they do to stay fit and healthy.

We will increase access to mental health services for people living with other long term conditions.

We will focus on recovery from mental health problems. We will support the work of the Scottish Recovery Network.

Results we want to see

People are supported to stay well and stay in work.

Improvements in mental health and physical health.

8. Realise the human rights of people with mental health problems.

What we will do

We will review the meaning of the terms 'learning disability', 'autism' and 'dementia' in laws on mental health.

We will review how deaths of patients in hospital for mental health care and treatment are looked into.

We will review the law on incapacity.

Results we want to see

People with mental health problems have choice and control. They are supported and their human rights are protected and enjoyed.

People with mental health problems lead lives the same as someone without a mental health problem.

People with mental health problems experience less discrimination. They have less health inequality. They have better access to services. They have more employment.

How will we know we are making a difference?

We will measure the work we complete to know whether what is being done is making a difference.

We will update the actions over the 10 years.

What we think is important may be different in different areas of Scotland.

What else?

We will also aim to reduce death by suicide. We will have a plan about suicide prevention in 2017.