Mental health and wellbeing strategy: executive summary

What success looks like

Promote

While awareness of mental health and wellbeing has improved, there is still work to do to increase understanding around both and tackle the stigma associated with mental health issues.

Promotion of mental health and wellbeing starts with all of us as individuals, families and communities. Promotion should ensure we understand it and what we can do to look after our own mental health and wellbeing and that of others in our communities.

To tackle these inequalities, we need a collective effort from local and national government, public and private bodies and organisations, the third sector, Health Boards, and our communities. All public bodies must comply with the public sector equality duty when they carry out their functions to help inform decisions.

We will work with partners and people with lived experience to shape and influence our approach to increasing awareness and understanding surrounding mental health and wellbeing and what that means.

We will also ensure clear points of access for advice, proactive access to self-care opportunities, and community supports and connections for those who experience mental illness and are at risk of self-harm or suicide.

Essential to this are the vital roles that local authorities, community planning partnerships, communities and third sector organisations (which include charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups) play in developing resilience, providing social infrastructure and supporting mental health and wellbeing nationally and in local communities.

We know that employers can play a key role in tackling mental health stigma by creating workplace cultures where open and honest discussion about mental health and wellbeing is supported and where discriminatory behaviour is challenged. We want to ensure that employers have the support they need to promote and support the conditions that enable individuals to experience good mental health at work. Supporting and promoting good mental health and wellbeing at work benefits both the individuals and employers.

Prevent

By prevention, we mean preventing mental health issues from occurring or intensifying and tackling underlying causes and inequalities wherever possible. Early identification of mental health and wellbeing issues and provision of early advice and support will continue to be an important part of our approach. This includes providing support, care and treatment for those in distress, and improving our response to people experiencing crisis, keeping them safe and preventing their situation from escalating further.

We will continue to develop ways of working to increase access to a range of early intervention initiatives and services in primary and community settings, recognising the substantial support needed and provided within GP settings. In doing so, we aim to prevent people from becoming so unwell that they require more intense interventions and treatments that may have a negative impact on their daily lives. We will also ensure provision of a range of support for self-management approaches, including digital options, to promote good mental health and wellbeing and sustain recovery.

We will work more closely with the third sector and support communities to recognise and respond to people's needs and to take a whole family approach to support. Investment in mental wellbeing will support new dedicated mental health supports and services, including raising

the profile and importance of peer support relationships in helping people with mental health and wellbeing challenges, particularly throughout recovery from mental ill health.

We know that there is a higher risk of unemployment amongst those with mental health issues, and that mental health issues can be a significant factor in the cause of economic inactivity for those with long-term health conditions. By focusing on prevention and early intervention approaches, individuals can be supported to sustain secure employment with less cost to employers through fewer days lost to sickness and absence.

Integral to early intervention will be recognising and targeting evidenced-based approaches for particular groups and communities who are at greater risk of poor mental health. This includes people with long-term physical health conditions, ensuring they are not further stigmatised.

We will also seek to improve links between different parts of the system to ensure people are connected directly to the advice and support they need, wherever they first seek help.

Provide

People who live with mental health conditions, as well as those who experience poor mental health at points throughout their life, should benefit from timely access to safe, effective and compassionate person-centred and whole-family approach to support, care and treatment. This will mean continuing to work closely with Health Boards and local partners to ensure waiting time standards are met and that services are responsive to the experiences of those who use them.

We are committed to providing high-quality mental health and wellbeing support and care. This means people can access the right care, in the right place, at the right time. Our whole system approach sets out the different kinds of support and care people might need to access at different points in their lives. This means responding to the different needs of children, young people and adults, as well as marginalised groups.

We will continue to improve and enhance mental health supports and services, giving consideration to suitable digital and new technology services (where evidenced and appropriate) and other non-digital formats, to ensure people receive quality care and treatment as close to home as possible that meets individual needs. Scottish Government will also continue the successful partnership work with Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS 24, Health Boards and others, including the third sector, to ensure those in crisis can access the best care as quickly as possible.

As with actions required under 'Promote' and 'Prevent', we know doing more of the same and providing investment in the same system will not deliver the change needed. For mental health services, setting clear outcomes and priorities for change will be necessary to drive improvement.

We will set out clear expectations for what mental health services will look like and how we will provide assurance of high-quality care. As part of this, we will continue to work with partners to improve the forensic mental health system.

Scottish Government will continue to develop Quality Standards and Specifications for mental health services, setting out clear expectations for what services will look like, recognising the need for local flexibility, whilst also providing assurance of high-quality care. These will be informed by the principles in this Strategy.

Scottish Government will work with partners to strengthen the scrutiny and assurance of the delivery of mental health services. The quality and safety of NHS mental health in-patient services are important in supporting positive outcomes.

Alongside this we will continue to develop accurate and reliable data with systems that are fit for purpose to report on progress towards improved outcomes. Whilst some environments are modern and enable the provision of high quality care, others need improvement. A national tool will be developed to assess and support improvement in the quality and safety of the mental health built environment.