Reverse the Beeching Cuts!

I am on a train again for the first time since before March. Don't worry, I have a genuine reason! I'm on the train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, and as the train rolls through the Stonehaven and Mearns countryside in the south of Aberdeenshire, with farmland and greenery on one side and the North Sea on the other, I'm reminded of its supreme beauty, something I greatly missed. I wouldn't choose to live anywhere on this planet than Aberdeenshire; with its rolling hills, winding rivers and its threaded connection with working people in its long gone granite industry. Having the majesty of the Cairngorms National Park in our back garden definitely helps, too. Mass transit in the form of buses and trains should be the future. I fully support the campaign to #BringBackBritishRail (https://www.bringbackbritishrail.org/), however I definitely think we should aim for a more local and place-centred railway, rather than rigid bureaucracy managed down in London, involving communities, workforce and customers in the management of the railway in different regions of the country. 

As we enter Stonehaven train station memories come back of the day in August earlier this year when, after heavy rain, a landslip caused the derailment of a train, causing the deaths of two crew, the driver and a conductor, and a passenger on the railway just outside the town. Their names were Brett McCullough, Donald Dinnie and Christopher Stuchbury. May we never forget them. The Sun newspaper must be forever condemned for its shameful headline about the disaster.

We have recently seen the construction of a new railway station in Kintore, rebuillding one of the victims of the Beeching cuts of 1966. I was watching series four of The Crown, and in one of the episodes it showed the Royal train meandering down the Deeside Railway to Balmoral Castle, except this was during the Thatcher era, many years after Beeching. The Deeside Railway ceased to exist after 1966! I definitely think that any sane national rail strategy needs a competent plan to reverse the Beeching cuts in full, and restore rail services to communities across the country, many of which wouldn't exist without the railway in the first place. We also need to ramp up the amount of freight and non-passenger transport on our railways, as a much more environmentally friendly alternative to air, sea or road haulage.

Many of the former railway lines, especially in Aberdeenshire, are now lovely walks, intersecting through the countryside. However the history of these lines should never be forgotten. I remember walking on the old railway line which runs past Kemnay, Monymusk and Alford, long overgrown, the physical railway is hardly there anymore. Another reason for the reopening of these lines is the abysmal transport links between many towns and small villages within Aberdeenshire on the bus.

Kemnay Railway Station, the building no longer exists. Source: http://www.kemnay.info/history/kemnay-railway/

The Crisis of Mental Health and the Need for Proper Investment

Today, Thursday 19th November is International Men's Day. International Men's Day is all about "making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys, raising awareness and/or funds for charities supporting men and boys' wellbeing, and promoting a positive conversation about men, manhood and masculinity." (UK Men's Day).

Bizarrely enough that page hosts a quotation from a former UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, who quite rightly recognises the importance of International Men's Day in highlighting health, suicide rates and the underperformance of boys in education. While she did highlight in her resignation speech the opportunity to put "proper funding for mental health at the heart of a long-term plan." (Pulse, 2019), Masuma Rahim in a Guardian article mentioned that child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) "continue to be woefully underfunded, despite years of promises of extra money." (Rahim, M. 2019). Masuma goes on to say that preventing mental health difficulties require a "public health approach" taking account of societal impacts which may be the underlying cause, noting the rise in foodbanks, changes to the welfare system, and the cutting of Sure Start centres (Rahim, M. 2019). I have no doubt in May's personal advocacy for mental health, however between 2010 and 2015 the government she was a member of cut mental health trusts by 8.25%, equivalent to £598 million (Broomfield, M. 2017), while also implementing further crushing austerity measures in other areas of the public sphere, austerity which continues to this day.

Closer to home in Scotland the Scottish Government has also championed mental health, however like their UK counterpart they are also coming up short, with what the Mental Health Foundation called "plaster solutions" in their response to a previous Scottish Government budget (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). The Mental Health Foundation in this response also highlights the need for preventative measures first and foremost, especially in early years. CAMHS in Scotland is mandated to see people within 18 weeks, however 12 of 14 NHS Scotland Health Boards failed to meet this target, with my local Health Board, NHS Grampian, reporting the worst figures, with 51.2% of people being seen within the 18 week target (Mental Health Today, 2019). This is 48.8% who are not being seen in 18 weeks, which is shocking.

UNISON Scotland highlight the need for proper funding for local government to deliver essential services to communities, including mental health support, as well as a strategy for tackling mental health issues in workplaces, such as "effective workload management schemes, suitable stress risk assessments, mental health action plans and policies." (UNISON Scotland, 2018).

Local authorities, the primary, front line providers of many services which impact our daily lives, need proper funding. The Scottish Government is keen to keep going with its centralisation agenda and starve local government of its resources, but this must be resisted and reversed. We don't just need national and regional plans for mental health and other services, but local plans which take direct account of community implications, alongside full consultation with communities about what they need. The Holyrood elections next year will be vital, and it will be particularly interesting to see the manifestos of the parties. However personally the key manifesto to see will be the Scottish National Party, they have after all been in power for the last 13 years, and look likely to be re-elected with a majority, with services undergoing managed decline. If they gain the majority that they are in my view likely to get there will be less pressure on them from parliament to be accountable for their decision making. We have already seen how they ignore the will of parliament, and that's without a majority.

Mental health waiting list targets, such as CAMHS 18-week target in Scotland, may look great on paper and to managers, however 18 weeks is too long to wait for many, that's if they're even seen within the 18 weeks. We need proper funding for the NHS nationally, but we also need the centralisation reversed, hospitals rebuilt and reopened in the population centres, and local clinics and GPs provided with the resources to give front line, community care and to catch people before they inevitably fall through the cracks otherwise.

In finishing, this was initially meant to be about International Men's Day and not on mental health more generally, but it flowed so I stuck with it. As winter closes in we need to be more vigilant about our own health, keep an eye on others, especially family members, and check up on our friends. This is the first piece of writing I have done in a long time, being too demotivated or plagued by brain fog to actually think of anything to put down let alone sit in front of my laptop to type it up due to eye strain. Over the past few days my mental health has been markedly improving, thanks to taking extra Vitamin D, as well as installing a lamp which emits artificial daylight, however will take a long time to fully 'recover.' My physical fatigue seems to be going, however emotional fatigue will be staying for a while I think.

References:

UK Men's Day. International Men's Day in the UK [Online]. Available at: https://ukmensday.org.uk/ (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Pulse (2019). May heralds 'proper funding for mental health' in resignation speech [Online]. Available at: https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/politics/may-heralds-proper-funding-for-mental-health-in-resignation-speech/ (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Rahim, M. (2019) 'Theresa May's 'legacy' on child mental health is one of underfunding and neglect', The Guardian, 18 June [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/18/theresa-may-legacy-child-mental-health-underfunding-neglect (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Broomfield, M. (2017) '2 charts show what has happened to mental health under the Conservatives', The Independent, 09 January [Online]. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/mental-health-figures-depression-anxiety-children-tory-government-theresa-may-pledge-end-stigma-funding-support-care-a7517531.html (Accessed 19 November 2020).

Mental Health Foundation (2018). Mental Health Foundation responds to the Scottish Government budget [Online]. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/news/mental-health-foundation-scotland-responds-scottish-government-budget (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Mental Health Today (2019). Over 1 in 5 children rejected from mental health services in Scotland [Online]. Available at: https://www.mentalhealthtoday.co.uk/news/children/over-1-in-5-children-rejected-from-mental-health-services-in-scotland (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

UNISON Scotland (2018). Need for mental health action plans as cuts bring pressures [Online]. Available at: https://www.unison-scotland.org/need-for-mental-health-action-plans-as-cuts-bring-pressures/ (Accessed: 19 November 2020).