Why I wasn’t ‘virtue signalling’ when I defied party whip over mental health

Now however, as the capital faces the same ever-growing mental health waiting lists as the rest of the country, its funding is potentially about to be pulled. The Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board (EIJB) will decide next month whether to continue funding the Stafford Centre in the city centre, a place that saves the NHS millions and supports more than 640 vulnerable people, despite the lack of support from the SNP government.

The centre’s own research found 80 per cent of those who use the service believe it has kept them out of hospital. Doubts over its future now feel like a bitter indication of what has gone wrong with our mental health strategies and the disregard in which they are held by some.

READ MORE: A new approach to mental health is tackling the NHS backlog

Genuine lack of concern?

I have no idea whether cuts they face are because the decision-makers cannot see past clinical treatments to the value of taking time to listen and provide people with a safe space, or whether it is a genuine lack of concern.

Recently I was accused of “virtue signalling” for going against my party’s whip and opposing a Conservative amendment to the controversial Labour Welfare Bill which would have reduced even further the benefits support available for mental ill health.

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I found it difficult not to express my disgust at those who offer so little understanding to those with mental health challenges which can make simply getting through the day an achievement. I make no apology for fighting for their right to services.

While that would have made no immediate difference to the decision of the EIJB, it would have created an atmosphere and society even more challenging for those who Thrive supports. On a visit to the Stafford Centre, managed by Change Mental Health, I experienced the safe, supportive and encouraging atmosphere they provide.

So much more than what some might thoughtlessly dismiss as ‘a cup of tea and a chat’ with staff and volunteers and skills to learn. Frankly, it changes lives. And saves them.

Time to mend our attitudes

It’s inspirational to see testaments from those they have helped, and the creative work many have produced with their encouragement. Fantastic paintings, beautiful jewellery and wood sculptures revealing talents nurtured in a safe space that financial cuts would deny them.

We must do something about an emerging lack of compassion for those who cannot easily be fitted into a convenient box for care, or whose needs demand something a clinical setting cannot provide.

In real terms, we need investment in training places for psychiatrists and to boost the number of health professionals in the system as my party, the Liberal Democrats, proposes.

We need ambition to cut routine mental health waiting times where the SNP’s ten-year-old strategy has failed. Appointing a dedicated mental health minister to champion the issue would make a significant difference.

But most of all we need to mend our attitudes and re-ignite our compassion for those who have not been as lucky in life as we have.

Christine Jardine is Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West