Health and Social care Committee

Access to medical technologies in Wales

MT ToR 25 Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales

Committee Clerk

Health and Social Care Committee

National Assembly for Wales

Cardiff Bay  

CF99 1NA

October 2012

Dear Chair and Committee Members

Consultation on the Access to Medical Technologies in Wales, suggestions for Terms of Reference

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the scope of the inquiry into accessing medical technologies in Wales. Psychiatrists often apply medical technologies that are not drug-based to treat patients with mental illness and many patients, treated by other health professionals, who are receiving non-drug medical interventions for physical conditions suffer from a mental illness. We are therefore keen that the inquiry will include access to technologies that improve not just the physical health but the mental health of patients and we would like the inquiry to look into the equity of accessing technologies for patients suffering from a mental disability or illness.

We recommend that the following issues are considered when the Committee draft the Terms of Reference of the inquiry:

· the financial pressures that determine the uptake of existing non-drug medical technologies which are known to be effective – for example the reduction in number of ECT suites in hospitals;

· the lack of available psychological therapies and social therapies, which can also be used in non-mental health settings, such as pain clinics;

· the need for psychological therapies for children and young people with severe & chronic or life threatening physical disorders;

· the lack of access to specialist physiotherapy, speech therapy & occupational therapy for children & young people with difficulties associated with neuropsychiatric & neurodevelopmental disorders eg Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD;

· the availability of treatments in private clinics but not on the NHS,  for example Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Light Box therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder and Eye Movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) for PTSD; and

· making reasonable adjustments to keep in line with the Equality Act. Patients with mental health problems and learning disabilities are often disadvantaged when receiving interventions, such as endoscopies, because often, when an incapacitous patient arrives for treatment often without statutory consultees the procedure is frequently discontinued.  We encourage health professionals to refer to specialist Mental Health and Learning Disability services for specialist advice and support. 

We look forward to seeing the final terms of reference in due course. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards

Dr Rob Poole

Chair, Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales

Baltic House

Mount Stuart Square

Cardiff Bay

CF 10 5FH