24-05-2025
Public meeting about EIJB cuts
Free tickets for a public meeting about the effect of cuts by the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) on mental health services in the capital have 'sold out'.
While the EIJB will not meet to discuss the cuts until 17 June, charity Change Mental Health has set up a town hall style meeting which will be attended by around 1,200 people.
The charity says the EIJB are now reviewing Thrive contracts worth £1.8million – with a view to cut services to close their deficit.
'But this doesn't add up:
Cuts to cheaper and more effective community services will only increase demand on GPs, A&E, social work and other statutory services.
These services are already at breaking point.
Early intervention and prevention saves money in the long run and can lead to better clinical outcomes.
'Come along to our public meeting, hear directly from the charities and people involved, and join us to organise a stop to cuts to Let Edinburgh Thrive'
Change Mental Health says its centre in Edinburgh saves the NHS up to £4.4 million a year in psychiatric related hospital admissions.
The Stafford Centre which runs early intervention and prevention-based services in Broughton Street offers support to more than 640 people. It also provides an additional 9,870 hours of mental health care under the Thrive programme which is delivered by several organisations and charities.
The Edinburgh Thrive Collective is an award-winning programme for delivering mental health services in Edinburgh. The charities and the public sector work together to deliver community mental health services and support in Edinburgh – including vital early intervention and prevention measures.
The cuts which are planned by The Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) have been severe for the third sector organisations affected – but a spokesperson for the mental health charity Change said these cuts will not only be devastating for their organisation but for community mental health all over Edinburgh.
He said: 'Edinburgh could potentially be left as an outlier in Western Europe where other cities continue to invest in community-based mental health services'.
At Holyrood
Foysol Choudhury MSP raised the matter at a recent session of First Minister's Questions. Mr Choudhury asked First Minister, John Swinney: 'The First Minister talks about prevention, but the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board is being forced to make cuts to preventative care and third sector organisations, including the Stafford Centre, which supports 640 people with mental health issues and is estimated to save the NHS up to £4.4 million in hospital admissions. Given the situation in joint boards across Scotland, does the First Minister recognise that prevention will not be possible if IJBs are in permanent financial crisis?'
The First Minister replied: 'Obviously, I want to make sure that the types of services that Mr Choudhury has raised are supported around the country. Those are operational decisions for integration joint boards to make. They can make those decisions based only on the financial allocations that this Parliament makes, and Mr Choudhury was unable to support the allocations of funding that the Government made to cover such services.
'We will certainly work with the integration joint boards, but Mr Choudhury cannot be absolved of his responsibility for failing to support the budget, which is delivering the investment that is necessary in health and social care. [Interruption.] The Labour Party members can moan at me all they want about the public finances but they have not been prepared to put the money in to support people in the communities of Scotland.'
Jeremy Balfour MSP for Lothian asked a question on a similar vein. He asked: 'I have been contacted by numerous charities in my region that will have to cease providing vital preventative care for individuals in the Lothians due to the IJB cuts. The First Minister said that he wants to lay aside politics and do the best for the people of Scotland. Will he now intervene in the crisis to make sure that NHS Lothian does not cut the budget to the IJB? That cut would put vulnerable people out of the services that they require. Rather than talk about previous measures, will he now be proactive in working with NHS Lothian and the council to make sure that the IJB gets the appropriate funding?'
The First Minister replied: 'The Government engages with health boards around the country, and local authorities have their own decisions to make as part of the IJB structures. We will engage constructively in any way that we can to help on those issues.
'Mr Balfour is another one who comes here and asks me to invest in local services, when his party leader wants me to cut public expenditure by £1 billion. How will that help IJBs around the country?
'I will not tire of pointing out the total and utter hypocrisy of the people who come here asking for tax cuts and wanting me to spend more money. It is hypocrisy on stilts.'
Miles Briggs MSP asp asked a question about the same topic. He said: 'As we have already heard, the proposals by the Edinburgh integration joint board are likely to see key services cut, including drop-in support, carers services and, even as we mark victory in Europe day, veterans support services. The First Minister apportioned blame, but the cuts are not acceptable. The IJB will cut £29 million from services in Edinburgh. Does he think that our health services will be improved by the decisions that are being taken by the IJB? Will he agree to meet the cross-party group of MSPs who are trying to raise the issue in Parliament and who have just had the First Minister whack this back at us? We need action and we want the First Minister to take heed of that today.'
Mr Swinney responded: 'I am simply being straight with the Parliament about the realities that we have to face. That is what I am doing.
'I understand the issues that Miles Briggs is raising with me. I am totally familiar with them and I understand the importance of them. I have just answered Mr Whittle about the importance of a focus on preventative interventions, and many of the interventions that Mr Briggs is talking about are preventative interventions.
'However, the point that I am making to the Parliament is that investment in those services does not happen by accident. It happens by political choice. Mr Briggs was one of those who voted against the Government's budget and he argued in favour, as his leader did, of £1 billion of cuts in public expenditure. How does Mr Briggs think that it would be possible to invest in local services with £1 billion of swingeing cuts from the Conservatives?'
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