Adferiad campaign for a bold and transformative Mental Health Strategy for Wales

Adferiad are campaigning for a Mental Health strategy for Wales that is bold, transformative, practical and led by the people who use Mental Health services. We have released a briefing paper which you can read here.

Through our founding charities, we have conducted many formal surveys over the last ten years and beyond, regularly and consistently seeking the views of people who use mental health services, as well as the views of carers and families. Analysing the responses gives us a clear idea of what our beneficiaries have been telling us.

Our latest survey was conducted between October and December 2022, with the purpose of giving people the opportunity to share their views on what they felt should be the priorities in the next mental health strategy and for people with lived experience to have a major influence on how services are planned, designed, and delivered in the future.

Most respondents in the survey agreed that the next mental health strategy should give priority to those in greatest need, while setting out how service providers and commissioners will plan and deliver services in partnership with individuals and their families and success should be measured by how quickly people receive help and how effective that help is in achieving recovery.

Adferiad propose that the new mental health strategy states as clearly and robustly as possible that it is a legal requirement for everyone receiving secondary mental health services to have a high-quality Care and Treatment Plan, that they should be co-produced, and should set out clear outcomes for recovery.

In the briefing paper we have focused on the importance of ensuring that the next mental health strategy prioritises the need for the care and treatment planning process to work effectively, and for using Care and Treatment Plans as a major tool for both ensuring services are provided to people using secondary mental health services and for planning and commissioning those services.

In the report we have also stressed the need to ensure that the next mental health strategy makes it clear who is responsible for helping people at different levels of need and when it is appropriate to access mental health services, and when it is appropriate to seek help and support from other services. Finally, we think it is essential to build into the strategy itself how delivery will be monitored, measured and reported against.

To read our report in full, please Click Here.