Dr Altaf Hussain was prvileged to Chair a Keynote Seminar with Policy Forum for Wales on the theme of Mental Health and Wellbeing in Wales.
A distinguished panel from clincial practice, politics, academia and the Third Sector was brought together to consider the key challenges and priorities discussed in the 'Together for Mental Health Delivery Plan: 2012-2016', and the way forward for policy as the Welsh Government and all political parties in Wales bring together their plans for improving mental health and wellbeing in Wales beyond 2016.
Delegates included Dr Sarah Watkins, Professor Keith Lloyd, Mr David Rees AM, Dr Mark Boulter and a number of representatives from third sector organisations.
Altaf said: "It was a privilege to Chair this event on behalf of the Policy Forum Wales. There was some tremendously insightful discussion around many of the issues we face in mental health today - from the need to increase access and availability of mental health services for our young people in Wales, through to the challenges posed by dementia as more and more of us live well into our nineties.
"There is a need to combat the stigma that has existed around mental health issues for far too long, and whilst progress has been made, the goal of achieving parity between physical and mental health has still not been achieved.
"The system needs more resources, but extra spending on its own is not enough. I would like to see a 28-day treatment target for all mental health patients at point of referral by the year 2021. To achieve this, we need to invest more in our workforce across all disciplines in healthcare to ensure that staff have sufficient skills to recognise and deal with mental health issues appropriately when they are first flagged up. Primary Care, and the Third Sector have a huge role to play here. The number of mental health referrals in Wales has more than doubled in the last four years, so it is important that we have the robust pathways for treatment in place, working in tandem with an early intervention strategy".
Altaf's opening and closing speeches delivered at the Seminar are available via the links below to download as Word Documents.