Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has marked World Mental Health Day by calling for more support for struggling people across Oldham Borough.
Councillor Sykes said, “NHS Mental Health budgets are at breaking point. Services are under huge pressure because of the backlog caused by the covid pandemic and the additional stress and pressure that so many of us are feeling because of the cost-of-living crisis. Staffing levels are also at crisis point. The Conservatives have done nothing to address this and now we have over a million people sitting on mental health waiting lists.”
In a statement marking World Mental Health Day (Oct 10th), the mental health charity Mind revealed that two in five young people “don’t have the words” to describe their mental health symptoms.
Councillor Sykes said, “We know that children and young people are facing increasingly varied and complex mental health issues and we know they are also vulnerable to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. So many families in our borough were just about managing before the Conservatives lost control of the economy. Now they are being plunged into fuel and food poverty and all that uncertainty takes its toll on a person’s health.”
The Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader also called on Oldham Council to be more ambitious in offering “meaningful mental health support” to the people of Oldham.
Councillor Sykes said, “The Liberal Democrats have set out our vision for a caring and proactive council which offers real and impactful support in every community of Oldham borough. We think the council can and must do more to tackle loneliness and digital isolation, which can be major barriers for many people who need to access mental health services.”
MIND Statement