It is Mental Health Awareness Week and it is clear that Scotland’s mental health services are falling far short of what is needed.
A number of those who are affected by are children and young adults born with genetic and undiagnosed conditions like 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q).
The charity, Max Appeal, and I were delighted to hear recently that standard testing for 22q in new-borns, had passed the first phase of approval by the National Screening Committee
However, many of those who have not benefitted from early detection may encounter mental health issues as they get older.
For example, the prevalence of schizophrenia is 25 times higher in the 22q population.
I am meeting UK Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price MP next month to discuss increasing awareness of 22q amongst mental health professionals.
There are currently 1,166 carers for people with 22q deletion syndrome across the UK, but only 80 of those are in Scotland.
More needs to be done, by both of Scotland’s governments, to increase that number.
I recently visited the minor injuries units (MIUs) in Turriff and Banff, to underline how important local health services are to these communities.
For people in Banff, the integrated joint board’s preference to cut MIU hours in Banff after 6pm is a major concern.
And although a preferred option for Turriff is still to emerge as I write, the public perception is that services will be similarly reduced.
Because I am keen to see no reduction in either community, I went to meet Adam Coldwells, Chief Officer of Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership.
He told me that the partnership doesn’t want to reduce services but there could be changes in where some people have to go for different reasons.
The resource pressures faced by the partnership aren’t the fault of NHS Grampian or Aberdeenshire Council.
According to its own NRAC formula, the SNP government short-changed NHS Grampian out of £7.7m in the last year alone, and to the tune of almost £240 million over the last decade.
Aberdeenshire Council has £565 million to fund services in the 12 months beginning last month – £27m less than it needs to pay for the services it provides.
It was great to be out in the sunshine for the Turriff and District Vintage and Classic Car Club’s annual rally in The Haughs on Sunday.
This is the third year the club have put on the family-friendly event and I was impressed with the variety and quality of the vehicles on show.
There were more than 500 cars, tractors, trucks, steam engines and bikes. Even the cockpit of a Canberra bomber from the Cold War.
This year saw the biggest crowd yet and I look forward to seeing this event grow from strength to strength.
The Men’s Shed movement has given much companionship and opportunity for ‘Shedders’ across Aberdeenshire, and I was pleased to attend the opening of the Aberchirder and District Shed.
Banffshire Lord Lieutenant Claire Russell unveiled a plaque and also read out a personal letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
This was a fantastic event commemorating the opening of a fantastic community project.
I’ve been following the Aberchirder Men’s Shed project since the beginning and was really impressed with the progress they have made.
I look forward to seeing more Men’s Sheds starting up around the North East.