Rhoda Grant: Suicide statistics show we need to do more to save lives
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Holyrood Notebook by Rhoda Grant
Readers may remember I previously held a virtual meeting with Caithness organisations involved in adult mental health, bringing them together with NHS Highland officials, after being contacted by concerned constituents.
One serious issue highlighted was the number of suicides and what could be done to help those most at risk.
I was therefore very interested to read a report by NHS Highland’s public health director, Dr Tim Allison, which highlighted that the region has a constituently higher rate of deaths by suicide than the Scottish average.
Although Dr Allison stresses his report is not comprehensive, it does contain a wealth of publicly available information which shines a light on a tragedy which has dogged the Highlands for many years.
NHS Highland and NHS Tayside are the only two health boards to have significantly higher combined male and female suicide rates in 2016-2020 compared to the rest of Scotland.
Male suicides are higher in Highland Council area and female suicides are increasing.
More research is definitely needed to really get to grips with these statistics and find some solutions, as every death means a life wasted and families devastated by the loss of a loved one.
As Dr Allison stresses, there are some fantastic initiatives that focus on prevention and early intervention and I saw that in action in Caithness.
However, the effect on mental health due to Covid isn’t really known, especially on those affected by poverty and deprivation.
Time to do more investigation into why our region continues to record these tragic deaths and take action to turn this around.
The strain of our trains
There are many campaigns which have taken something of a back seat in the past two years due to the pandemic.
One of these is the woeful state of the train network in the Highlands, especially the Far North Line.
I am still the honorary vice-president of Friends of the Far North Line (FFNL) and I pay tribute to all members who are continuing to campaign for better infrastructure and faster journey times to make the route more attractive.
This will be good not only for passengers but for tourism and the economy, but it is frustrating and annoying that major improvements are taking so long.
With our rush to meet climate change targets, you would think that long-awaited rail projects would now get the go-ahead, but they are still in the sidings waiting for the green light and funding.
The Far North Line is single track throughout with very few passing places and an extremely slow journey which takes almost twice as long by rail as it does by road.
As FFNL says: “The Far North Line, which is already receiving some very useful enhancements, will need more passing loops if freight is to be added as planned.”
This all has the echo of the time taken to upgrade the Berridale Braes! No wonder people think the Scottish Government has forgotten about this area.
Health Secretary should come to Caithness
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has told me he intends to travel to Moray to meet with NHS Grampian and NHS Highland, as well as local clinical teams from Dr Gray’s and Raigmore, and local people “as soon as is practicably possible” regarding the independent maternity review at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
I suggest he travels the 140 miles up the road from Elgin to Caithness to talk to Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) and local people. Surely that would be the least he could do.
- Rhoda Grant is a Labour MSP for the Highlands and Islands.
