Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, believes that access to some mental health services in north Powys are a real cause for concern.
The AM took the opportunity to question the First Minister this week about the provision of out of hours mental health services in Montgomeryshire
Mr. George brought this issue to the attention of Carwyn Jones AM after it became a frequent agenda item during meetings with the local GP cluster group.
Commenting, Mr George said:
“I have regular meetings with the North Powys GP Cluster Group to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern in the constituency.
“An issue that has kept emerging at these meetings is the poor level of mental health services that patients in Montgomeryshire are receiving from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
“GPs are telling me that they are seeing shocking incidents of out of hours mental health care because the admissions and referral system has simply broken; this is just unacceptable.
“While I understand that Powys Health Board’s new CEO and its Quality and Safety Committee are examining this issue, GPs feel patients are still being put at risk because the system is not working.
“GPs in Montgomeryshire want reassurance that the Welsh Government will not tolerate this level of service.”
In response, the First Minister stated that the Government was aware of the problems and that the NHS Delivery and Support Unit was undertaking a review which would be completed next month.
He also indicated that both Powys and Betsi Cadwaladr Health Boards were working with the Delivery Unit in order to implement any actions that would emerge from the review process as were required.
