LSCFT Suicide Prevention lead writes on the Trust suicide prevention work

Lancashire and South Cumbria FT medical lead, suicide prevention working group and acting consultant psychiatrist, South Ribble CMHT, Dr Raphael Ogbolu has written an article on suicide prevention and how the new National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England 2023 – 2028 clearly asks us to embrace the fact that suicide prevention is everybody’s business, and nobody should be left behind.

Crisis Line 24/7 on 0800 953 0110.

Action needed on infant and early childhood mental health, College says

Children under five in the UK are at risk of suffering from lifelong mental health conditions which could be prevented with the right care and support, a report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said.

The report calls on the Government to prioritise the mental health of babies and young children. 

It says early action is vital, given half of mental health conditions arise by age 14 and many of these start to develop in the first years of life. Most babies, under fives and their parents do not receive the support they need to address these issues both during and after pregnancy. Mental health services are under-resourced and inconsistent commissioning is putting children’s immediate and long-term mental health at significant risk. 

In England prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 100,000 (5.5 per cent) of two to four-year-olds struggled with anxiety, behavioural disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders. Globally, an estimated one in five (20.1 per cent) of children aged between one and seven years have a mental health condition.

Deprived and rural communities more affected by varying dementia diagnosis rates

Dementia diagnosis rates vary widely, a report has found. At present there is a difference of more than 20 percentage points in the dementia diagnosis rates between the highest and lowest-performing integrated care systems in England.

The inquiry, researched by the Alzheimer’s Society, examined how the most deprived and rural communities are particularly adversely affected by this regional disparity. The inquiry’s findings show a complex picture in which issues ranging from variation in population health risk and dementia public health understanding, to the geographical spread of brain scans and transport networks all play a part in regional dementia-related health disparities.

Raising the Barriers.pdf (alzheimers.org.uk)

Impacts of racism affects mental health across generations

A briefing by the Centre for Mental Health and King’s College London finds that racism has far-reaching impacts on parents, their children, and the relationships between them. Based on research with both parents and teenagers from UK racialised communities, it finds that both past and present experiences of racism can affect mental health across generations of a family. The briefing calls on the government to commit to tackling all forms of racism through a cross-government strategy. It also says that the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England should fully resource work with racialised communities to design more racially equitable mental health support.

CentreforMH_Briefing62AConstantBattleFinal_0.pdf (centreformentalhealth.org.uk)

CentreforMH_Briefing62AConstantBattleFinal_0.pdf (centreformentalhealth.org.uk)