The older I get, the better I used to be

I start this week’s blog with a reference back to my blog posting of 23rd August (see here). In that post I warned that the UK may, as a consequence of climate change, see a rise in diseases up to now only found in places like Africa and Southern Europe and Asia. Well last week the UK Health Security Agency reported that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes had been found with larvae in East London. These mosquitoes can spread the Zika virus, dengue fever, and yellow fever; none of which you want to get! You have been warned.

There was a different kind of warning posted by the Department of Health and Social Care last week. The warning was about the shortage of a common antidepressant, Venlafaxine. The shortage is likely to last until the end of the year, and guidance has been issued regarding restricting new prescribing of the drug. We know from the Office of National Statistics that mixed anxiety and depression are the most common form of mental health disorders. Young people aged 16-29 have the highest rates of depressive symptoms, with just over a quarter of this group reporting moderate to severe symptoms.

This data is a cause for concern. Doctors from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health reported that there had been a 36% rise in the numbers of children and young people presenting at A&E departments between 2019 and 2025. A&E environments are not great places for anyone in distress, but 8% of young people are still having to wait over 12 hours to be seen. That said, many families are ‘forced’ to use A&E services, as gaining access to appropriate children and young people’s mental health care in the community can be almost impossible.

Whilst the current mental health service offer for children and young people is not broken, often they appear to operate on the basis of only offering services when a child is ‘unwell enough’ to qualify for an intervention. That is unacceptable, and unacceptable to those in need and to those providing care.

There are signs that the current government has a growing awareness of the need to both improve and transform mental health services for children. Improvements to children and young people’s services feature in the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan – see here. A new mental health strategy is due to be published later this year. I just hope the improvements and the availability of new resources can be achieved at pace. In England so far this year, 894,212 children and young people have accessed mental health services. Just in June there were 538,766 children and young people with an open referral.

I drew this data from the fabulous NHS Digital website. I mention this as apparently, in a report published last week by Age Concern, only one in six folk, over the age of 65, are confident about being able to use online services. The rest of this group struggle in different ways to access services such a banking, council services and health care. Interestingly, the report notes that whilst 1.6 million older people are ‘digitally included’, 1.4 million never use the internet at all. So, the majority of people in this age group (7.9 million) are somewhere in the middle. Sadly, I find myself increasingly in that middle group. Fortunately, Jane is totally digitally literate and does everything on her phone. So when I run into problems and lose my patience, she simply says ‘would you like me to help?’ and these days I gladly accept her offer.

She is a whizz. Jane can find emails, reports, booking confirmations and so on that as far as I am concerned have disappeared for ever, and can’t ever be found.  Unfortunately, there are many people who don’t have access to a Jane. Like Age Concern, I firmly believe that we are never going to reach a time where everything we have to do we have to do online. I get so frustrated when I can’t simply pick up the phone and speak to someone, a real person that is, and not a chatbot. And don’t get me started about security codes…

I’m an active campaigner, as is Jane, for there always being a non-digital alternative to accessing public services like health and local council services. My GP practice understands this. One outcome from a recent visit was the decision to have a fasting blood test in 3 months’ time. My GP sent me a text reminding me of this, telling me I didn’t have to go online to book an appointment, the practice receptionist would do it for me if I called in. Perfect service.