WATCH: New dedicated mental health ambulance service comes to Inverness
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Following a successful pilot of the initiative the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has announced provision of a dedicated vehicle to respond to mental health emergencies is being expanded into he Highland capital.
Backed by £2.6 million Scottish Government funding, mental health triage cars provide specialist frontline mental health workers to respond to incidents in communities.
The new mental health vehicle was revealed to the public for the first time at Inverness Cathedral this week, where the Minister for public health and women's health, Maree Todd, spoke to paramedics and had a first look at the vehicle.
She said: "The service has been tested in three different areas, in Inverness, Dundee and Glasgow. I think it is easier initially in cities, so in Highland we are really keen to learn the lesson for rural areas.
"Because of this it is really important that systems work well in order to ensure people can get that help at home because the distances are so vast in the Highlands.
"This initiative is really important. Firstly, it takes some of the stain off the ambulance service and and Accident and Emergency, but more importantly it ensures that people who are in distress get the right help they need at the right time.
"They often don't need to be taken to hospital, but they're able to get the help and support they need at home, which is fantastic."
Under the new plans, five new specialist staff members are being introduced to staff the mental health response car which will operate out of Inverness and provide services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The dedicated mental health response unit, based at Inverness ambulance station, provides specialist mental health assessment, care, and support for people who are experiencing mental health challenges and who contact SAS for help.
Michael Dickson OBE, chief executive of the Scottish ambulance service, said: "The actual availability of mental health support can be difficult to access in the Highlands, so this dedicated vehicle is a really proactive way of being able to provide direct support to people who are facing mental health challenges.
"There's often a view that if you're sick you need to go to A&E, but this is a fundamental way to stop people needing to go there and see that there are other options for help and support.
"Bringing a dedicated vehicle for mental health to the Highlands is about a commitment to those struggling with mental health, prodomintly based in Inverness, but reaching out to those rural areas too."
The Scottish Ambulance Service has attended over 50,000 mental health call outs in the past five years and has partnered with NHS 24 and Police Scotland to continue the development of a Mental Health Hub which is hosted within NHS 24.
Accessible for patients 24 hours a day, the Hub is staffed by psychological wellbeing practitioners, mental health nurse practitioners and mental health senior charge nurses.
Mental health clinical advisers are also based at the service’s ambulance control centres.
Trevor Bechtel, mental health paramedic team leader, said: "We see a whole range of mental health problems, raging from acute behaviour issues, to social stress and relationship problems.
"We also see a lot of issues with dugs and alcohol, in addition to some struggling with bipolar and schizophrenia.
"We are very much focused on being able to provide the right treatment at the right time to the patient, so now we are able to help people with mental health crisis stay away from A&E, so with the NHS Highland partnership we are able to treat people or sign post them to the correct service at that time in need."
The Scottish Government has published information on NHS inform on how to access urgent mental health support at different times of the day, on behalf of someone else, including a child or young person, or if the person is a visitor or has recently arrived in Scotland.
People are encouraged to phone their GP surgery or, where possible, their usual mental health team in the first instance.
If they are unable to access mental health support that way, the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub is available 24/7 on 111 to direct people to the right help.
If there is an immediate risk, for example by serious injury or overdose, or there is a life- or limb-threatening emergency, people should call 999 or go their nearest A&E.
