IS IT just me who has spotted the oxymoronic clash of two articles in your edition of October 4?

Page five: health cost headache “ ‘…it [CCG] will under-spend on mental health services by £2.28 million…..”; it hopes to partially offset shortfalls using this money.

Page eight: health experts describe “plans to close York psychotherapy unit [on Huntington Road] in a bid to save £140,000 as ‘deeply concerning’..”. This will also mean the loss of three psychotherapy posts. Many will know how long those who need therapy have to wait at present for expert help and counselling.

Firstly, we all know that mental health is the poor relation within the health service ‘family’ but that shortcomings in monitoring and treating serious or ongoing nagging mental health issues hit the headlines when the mentally ill harm themselves or others, often in sheer desperation.

Secondly, how can those in charge our health and wellbeing in York justify using a £2.28m shortfall in spending on mental health to offset the overspend elsewhere, while saving a paltry £140,000 that will see three experts losing their jobs and waiting lists become even longer for those in need?

More of the mental-health budget should be spent on mental health.

Dot Nicholson, Grange Garth, York.

 

• I ATTENDED the meeting of the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Goup and was amazed that although many budget areas were showing overspends, the mental health budget was under-spent.

How is that acceptable when residents with severe mental health problems are waiting approximately 14 months to access counselling?

I now see that the York psychotherapy unit is threatened with closure to save £140,000 and patients may well have to travel long distances to access such therapy.

Instead of the money from the mental health services under-spend being distributed elsewhere, why can’t it be used to support the local psychotherapy unit and relieve the distress of these patients?

I believe York remains the only city in the UK without a designated ‘place of safety’ for people suffering extreme mental distress and a police cell is often the only alternative offered.

The group recently agreed to fund such an initiative but is beset by delays related to planning permission on the Bootham site.

Let us hope that when by the time planning permission is given that there are still enough funds to support it.

Is this a return to mental health care being a Cinderella service, under-funded, under-resourced and the health benefits undervalued?

Gwen Vardigans, Defend Our NHS (York), Carron Crescent, York.

 

• IN YOUR article on October 4 about overspend in the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), it is pointed out that there is an underspend of £2.28 million on mental health which is being used to offset other payments.

On the same day another article reported that Leeds and York Partnership NHS foundation trust is to close St Andrews counselling and psychotherapy unit. On top of this, previous articles reported that there are waiting lists of more than a year for some improving access to psychological therapies (IAPT) services, which is due to a shortfall of trained workers compared to national requirements.

What is clear is that mental health services are grossly underfunded in the York area and the CCG see it as acceptable for the status quo to remain, so that funding which should be allocated to mental health can being used to cover the CCG’s overspend in other areas.

It is time we stopped treating mental health as a second-class service and treated patients on a par with those requiring treatment for physical illness. If we do not change course soon we are going to have a mental health crisis in York putting lives at risk.

Andrew Collingwood, Langwith Lane, York.