Fife’s innovative mental health ambulance set to hit the road after recruitment delays

Colin Davidson has welcomed the launch of the mental health ambulance project (Pic: Submitted)

Levenmouth’s mental health triage car has been praised extensively, and now it will be rolled out by the end of this month.

Last May, Levenmouth Area Committee councillors agreed to spend £91,857 from the community recovery fund to implement a six-month pilot “mental health triage car” - an investment they said was necessary to address the increase in emotional distress and mental health calls to police, freeing up time and resources, as well as reducing the strain on accident and emergency centres.

“It’s something I feel we’re doing that is unique, it’s groundbreaking, it’s taking a leap of faith,” Committee Convener Colin Davidson (Labour) said.

The pilot was meant to start as soon as there was an availability of staff last year. However, it has since faced launch delays due to “vacancies and gaps in provision within the mental health service.”

“I can’t be critical because it’s been very difficult,” Cllr Davidson said. “There is a huge shortage of mental health staff. Finding paramedics hasn't been a problem, it’s been finding the mental health staff and recruiting the right personnel to do this job.”

He explained: “That whole sector is under so much pressure and the people working in it have so many demands on them. It’s very very difficult to get the right person at the right time.”

The programme was initially scheduled to launch in November/December 2023, but it has now been pushed back to the end of this month. However, Cllr Davidson said he has been working closely to get this pilot programme off the ground and confirmed that it will almost certainly be rolled out on time.

“This committee is doing something that no other committee in Fife is doing with this mental health triage car,” he said. “It’s going to be a groundbreaking thing and I hope it’s something we're going to build on. We really need to reflect on this as quickly as we can and get permanent funding in and extend the service to a full provision seven days a week.”