North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has expressed concern that despite promises of action almost a decade ago, gaps in dual diagnostic treatment for people in North Wales with mental health and substance misuse problems remain.
Mr Isherwood raised the matter in the Assembly Chamber this week when he called on the Health Secretary to provide an update on the situation.
He said:
“Continuing gaps in North Wales in dual diagnostic treatment for people with mental health problems and substance misuse mean that the revolving door is tragically still alive and well.
“It’s a decade since a Welsh Government-commissioned report into Tier 4 inpatient detoxification and rehabilitation services was leaked to me, having being buried, identifying people deliberately reoffending because of these gaps and hospital admissions because of the absence of this treatment.
“The Welsh Government did come forward with a proposed model working with three third sector providers in north, central and south Wales. A decade later, where are we up to with that, so that those people desperately needing that dual diagnostic treatment can receive it in the region they live?”
The Health Secretary told Mr Isherwood that they will write to him to give him “an update on where we are with tier 4 services in north Wales and, more generally, for Members across the country as well.”
Mr Isherwood added: “A decade passed and plenty of warm Welsh Government words, but no forward motion.”