The number of people being referred to mental health services on the Isle of Wight in a single month has increased by 40% year on year, but fewer people are actually in contact with mental health professionals, according to figures released by the NHS.
In March 2021, a total of 1,090 referrals were made locally – an increase of 315 from March 2020 when 775 referrals were made. Monthly referrals to mental health services have hit their highest point in at least 2 years, with October (1,010) and November (1,030) last year also seeing higher referral numbers than normal.
Nationally, figures show at least 279,995 referrals were made through the 117 NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) services in March 2021 alone.
Despite this increase, the number of actual contacts between patients and staff has decreased by 13% – from 3,080 in March 2020 to 2,675 in March this year. That said, the lowest number of contacts was seen in April and May last year – at the height of the pandemic – when there were just 2,040.
Figures show that the number of urgent crisis care referrals in March was 0, the same as in March 2020. This figure often fluctuates between 0 and 10 on any given month. Crisis referrals are made when a person is suffering a mental health crisis and need help faster than they would get through a normal referral route.
Chris Ainsworth, Deputy Director of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, has said:
“We have seen a rise in referrals to our mental health services, with many older people feeling the effects of isolation and loneliness associated with the pandemic and we are seeing more children and young people struggling with their mental health as a result of disruptions to their daily routines and the uncertainty of what the future holds. We anticipate that there will be a further rise in the number of people who need mental health support as they come forward, following the easing of restrictions.
“To ensure we are able to provide people with the support they need, we have made a number of improvements to our services, including the new Recovery Service delivered in partnership with Southern Housing Group for people with complex mental health needs, to enable them to live independently.
Article continues below this advertisement “We have also strengthened our community services and brought partner agencies together in our Integrated Mental Health Hub service, which includes specialist support for people experiencing a mental health crisis. They can access our Crisis Service or NHS11 to speak directly to a mental health professional and find the support they need.
“For people experiencing stress, anxiety and mild depression, we have the Isle Talk IAPT (Improved Access to Psychological Therapies) self-referral service which can provide an assessment and referral to the support needed. We also launched Mental Health Support Teams in eight pilot schools and colleges earlier this year, as part of a rollout of this service to help provide early intervention support children and young people in education settings.
“It is good that more people are able to discuss or seek support for their mental health and wellbeing and we would urge anyone who is experiencing mental health difficulties to contact our NHS111 service or to get in touch with our Isle Talk IAPT service for referral to the right mental health service.”
good luck to anyone seeking mental health service on this island
Hopefully this chap won’t be receiving a bonus… the Island mental health team is a joke, except it’s not at all funny. I tried to help a person in crisis last year; it was soul destroying with all the people involved saying how bad the service is on the Island. That’s the Doctor’s and psychiatrist’s saying that!!
Dreadful. He should hang his head in shame…
on the other hand, i know of some who actively claim to have mental health issues to avoid having to do their jobs. It has become the new backache in the workplace.
these liars are making it harder for genuine cases to be seen, as they are taking up valuable slots at these referrals, just so that they can get out of doing jobs at work or use it as an excuse for more time off.
The mental health services on the Island are well meaning but wholly inadequate and swamped, the services are totally understaffed and unable to provide much of what is needed.
The issue as ever is money, without better resources people will suffer, and suffer they are.
My mental health improved last year when the first lockdown was in place. Less people, less cars, it was bliss. Now things are more or less back to so called normal, all the old horrible familiar stress and anxiety is rampaging again. Society here favours noisy extroverts, those wanting a more genteel way of life are not catered for at all and even less cared about.