To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that all mental health hospitals and the State Hospital, Carstairs, have supplies of Samaritans freepost envelopes available to patients.
The Scottish Government is working closely with Samaritans Scotland, as one of our key partners driving the delivery of the suicide prevention Creating Hope Together strategy, to better understand help seeking behaviour and increase signposting to local and national support. We recognise that there may be benefits for some mental health patients in accessing Samaritans’ listening services alongside NHS care.
At present, Samaritans provide pre-printed freepost envelopes in prison settings as part of their broader work to support people in prisons. However, while there is no specific scheme to provide pre-marked envelopes within hospitals, any individual can write to them for free by marking an envelope “FREEPOST SAMARITANS LETTERS”.
Samaritans can also be contacted 24/7 by phone for free on 116 123 and by email at [email protected]. They aim to respond to all emails within 24 hours.
We will continue to work alongside Samaritans Scotland to support any plans to further promote and expand access to its listening services within the NHS estate.