EIJB mental health support cuts are a fatally flawed plan - Nick Ward

Nick Ward, CEO, Change Mental Health

Instead, the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board (EIJB), the organisation set up to manage and deliver integrated health and social care, is proposing, in effect, to end community mental health support in Edinburgh by cutting the award-winning mental health services that make up the Thrive Collective, and countless other community services provided by charities in Edinburgh.

This makes little sense when demand for mental health services has never been higher nor has pressure on our NHS: the last thing our overstretched NHS needs is more people presenting to GPs and A&E.

Yet, this is what the EIJB is proposing in a desperate attempt to balance a budget – a budget which has never been balanced since its creation.

The Stafford Centre in Broughton Street is run by Change Mental Health as a community hub and drop-in centre

What the EIJB is proposing is fundamentally flawed on financial, clinical and process grounds.

On financial grounds, the return on investment for early intervention and prevention is incredibly clear, demonstrated in national and international studies. The Stafford Centre alone, a community hub delivered by Change Mental Health on Edinburgh’s Broughton Street, saves NHS Lothian up to £4.4 million for a spend of £180,000 per year by keeping people out of hospital.

Indeed, the wider Thrive partnership has a social value of over £7 for every £1 spent. Cutting these services will simply cost more down the line. The process that the EIJB has undertaken shows it has been completely ill-thought-out.

Charities delivering these vital services have been treated with contempt with little transparency from the EIJB, that has lacked in communication, displayed poor planning and given every indication that it does not value its partnership with the third sector. The trust has been eroded to breaking point.

Finally, and most seriously of all, we know these services save lives – thousands of them. The Thrive Collective supports over 4000 Edinburgh residents a year and we know that early community intervention achieves the best clinical outcomes for people experiencing mental health issues or mental illness.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We are calling for the Edinburgh Integrated Join Board to delay this decision for a year. That way, they can rebuild trust and partnership with the third sector, redesign services together and ensure that we have a service which both saves money and delivers better outcomes for our communities.

Because Edinburgh deserves so much better than this.

Nick Ward, CEO, Change Mental Health