Will the Minister review the Government’s approach to awarding service improvement funding for mental health services as part of efforts to ensure that health boards invest sufficiently in eating disorder services?
As part of the Welsh Government draft budget for 2022/23, we have secured an extra £50m to support mental health and wellbeing. Within that £50m, I am committed to ensuring that specific resources are earmarked for mental health service improvements, in line with our 2019-22 Mental Health Delivery Plan priorities which were refreshed to respond to the considerable impact of the pandemic. These priorities include improvement of eating disorder services and increased access to tier 0/1 provision which will also directly support these services. We are currently considering the detailed breakdown of the 2022/23 funding but intend to continue to increase the resources available to support eating disorder services.
We know it has been challenging for health boards to recruit to new posts created using 2021/22 service improvement funding. Therefore, prior to releasing funds for the 2022/23 financial year, we are undertaking an exercise across all health boards to identify any legacy posts / grades that they have not been able to recruit to. This will include posts located in eating disorder services. This will help to consider what further action can be taken nationally to bolster provision in these key areas, whilst allowing time for health boards to recruit to previously approved posts. This will enable them to extend provision and provide a sustainable model of care whilst not destabilising existing services.