MENTAL health should be at the heart of Scotland’s healthcare systems, the Scottish Greens have said.

The party’s manifesto is set to include proposals to allocate 10% of frontline health spend to mental health by 2026, invest an additional £161 million into child and adolescent mental health services, and expand access to cognitive behavioural therapy and social prescribing.

The Greens also want more focus on a preventative agenda.

Launching the policy, Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “The Scottish Greens will pursue an ambitious preventative agenda, but also invest in the treatments people often wait too long for. We need to ensure everyone who needs mental health support has quick and easy access to it, which is why we want to allocate 10% of frontline health spend to mental health services. We need to prioritise support for children and young people, ensure mental health support is available at all GP practices, and expand access to remedies like cognitive behavioural therapy and social prescribing.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour are unveiling plans for “life-saving” mental health workers in every GP practice as part of a recovery plan for Scotland’s NHS.

Party leader Anas Sarwar is set to reveal the policy today, as part of a national recovery plan for the NHS which will be published at the party’s campaign launch.

Sarwar said: “We can’t come through the collective trauma of Covid and go back to a system which fails people in need of lifesaving mental health support.

“This election must be about delivering a national recovery plan that at its heart is about restoring our NHS. I am putting improving access to mental health treatment front and centre of our plan – and it starts by putting vital mental health support workers in every GP clinic in Scotland.”