Cole-Hamilton attacks SNP neglect as number of qualifying mental health first aiders falls sharply

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today attacked SNP neglect as he revealed that the number of people completing mental health first aid training has fallen to just 5,000, down a third when compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

A parliamentary question from Mr Cole-Hamilton has revealed that 7,906 people were trained in the year running up to the pandemic. The training of mental health first aiders is undertaken by Public Health Scotland but was suspended when the pandemic struck, despite concerns that demand for support would soar. This contrasts with England where training never stopped and was instead delivered as a virtual classroom course. Last year (2022/23), just 5,133 people were trained, a decrease of more than a third.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have called for the Scottish Government to support the provision and training of mental health first aiders for every workplace. Under the party’s proposals, an independent specialist body like Mental Health First Aid England would take over the delivery of this scheme. It would ramp up training so that every workplace can benefit from a mental health first aider.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Schemes like this should provide hope in the darkness amid Scotland’s worsening mental health crisis but like much else it has been badly neglected by this SNP government.

“While England was training an army of mental health first aiders to deal with the fallout from the pandemic, Scotland sat on its hands. Even after the pandemic has abated the number of people being trained has fallen sharply.

"Early intervention can avoid a problem becoming something far worse. By training staff to provide mental health support in workplaces, we can help people to support their colleagues in a time of need.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to give every workplace the protection of a trained mental health first aider by ramping up this scheme and ending years of SNP ambivalence.

Mental health spokesperson Sally Pattle added:

"Adults regularly wait up to two years for mental health treatment. That comes at a huge personal cost to their health but also to employers who miss out on hundreds of thousands of working days a year.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want a properly funded, world-beating system that will tackle our mental health emergency.

“As well as providing fresh funds for local and accessible mental health services, my party would roll out more counsellors in schools, GPs, A&E departments and alongside police and prison staff. We would also provide access to robust 24/7 crisis care.”