Services offering mental health support are needed in South Holland more than ever as the pandemic continues to have an impact on residents also facing a hike in living costs.
As the funding for the continuation of Spalding’s Night Light Cafe is yet to be confirmed, county councillors are told demand is increasing.
Spalding’s Tonic Health hosts the cafe in this area and is seeing a greater than ever need in the community.
“Demand has increased and it’s COVID, the isolation of people being separated from families and friends. We need connection with other people and not having it has caused people a lot of distress,” said organiser Ruth Taplin.
And the financial difficulties many people are finding themselves facing is not helping the situation.
“It’s sending people into a tail spin and leaves some people really facing the choice of heat or eat,” she added.
“It’s not just people on benefits, it’s the working poor. It’s really not a good reflection on society in the 21st century.”
The cafe is aimed at people with mental health issues needing a safe place to find help. There are ten similar cafes around the county and each offers out-of-hours support for people struggling.
“The project was designed to test out a need for such a resource,” said Victoria Sleight, head of
Lincolnshire’s mental health and wellbeing transformation.
Future funding has yet to be confirmed officially, but the Tonic Health team is hopeful.
Figures presented to the Health Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday also show a 251 per cent increase in the number of young people’s referrals for eating disorders.
“Demand is outstripping the capacity of this small team.
“We recognise this is a significant issue for our local population,” says the report.
The update comes from the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust which is the principal provider of NHS mental health services and also provides some learning disability, autism and social care services.
“The last 12 months have continued to be challenging for the NHS and our local community, with the continued impact of the pandemic, rising demand for mental health services and increasing costs of living,” the report says.
Some 30 per cent of people who attend accident and emergency don’t need physical healthcare needs and would be ‘better covered by dedicated mental health professionals.’
The report also reveals that it’s currently taking up to two years for adult autism to be diagnosed.
Numbers have rocketed since the pandemic started, with 347 in 2019/20, 409 in 2020 and 630 Last year.
Mental health services have been delivered in different ways because of the pandemic with more virtual or remote appointments.
But there are still 333 vacancies within the trust and recruitment internationally has seen ten nurses and three psychiatrists join the team.
