Neil Gray has been urged to intervene to resolve a £100m dispute over funding for Scots mental health services.
A group of Scottish Labour figures have today demanded the SNP Health Secretary steps in to help secure new investment for crumbling facilities operated by NHS Fife.
MPs Melanie Ward, Graeme Downie, Richard Baker and MSP Claire Baker have asked the Scottish Government to allow the health board to apply for £100 million in mental health funding.
In a letter to Gray, the group claimed NHS Fifehad been advised against applying for the money by Holyrood officials in December 2023.
But since the Scottish Government budget was subsequently increased by Westminster, some health boards have been encouraged to make new investment bids – but Fife is not one of them.
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP Ward said: “The SNP needs to explain why it has deprioritised Fife’s needs. The mental health crisis is serious and people deserve the most effective prevention, support and treatment.
“Instead, following a record UK budget settlement for the Scottish Government and 18 years into their rule, the SNP have chosen not even to consider replacing some of our Victorian facilities. They must think again. Fife deserves better.”
The MPs said in their letter that NHS Fife “is now forced to spend precious funding patching up a crumbling and ageing estate rather than investing in the future facilities” because it does not have the money.
They also said “some of Fife’s mental health estate is literally Victorian. The gap between provision and demand in Fife is so serious that some local police leadership say that the mental health crisis in Fife is now a major issue for them too.”
Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd said: “We are working with NHS Boards and national and local partners to improve access to and delivery of mental health and wellbeing services. That is why, even with the continuing fiscal challenges we face, we have made the decision to increase the draft mental health budget for next financial year so that we can build on our improvements.
“The 2025-26 Budget, if approved by Parliament, will provide a record £21.7 billion for Health & Social Care, including supporting spending of £1.3 billion for mental health services, and more than doubling direct investment in mental health since 2020-21.
“We have also provided extra support for community-based prevention and early intervention and funded more mental health workers in healthcare and justice settings. People in distress have been referred to the world-leading Distress Brief Intervention programme to provide timely support and ease pressures on other frontline services.
“We are developing a whole system NHS infrastructure plan which will consider infrastructure needs for the whole of Scotland and support continued safe operation of existing facilities and well as determination of longer-term investment priorities.”
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