Mental Health Services

Baroness Verma Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

Will my noble friend assure me that all communities will be able to access appropriate mental health services? What work is being done to speak to local women’s and girls’ groups in the ethnic-minority communities, where language and access to online services may often be a barrier?

[Lord Bethell]

One thing that Covid has thrown a light on is that digital communications have been greatly improved; the use of video conferencing in mental health services is one of the things that have helped. Groups that do not have access to video conferencing need to be reached in other ways. We are working on using telephones and community outreach to do that. My noble friend is entirely right that this needs to be a focus of our work.