Down in the dumps..

In a recent article, Mark Easton wrote about the growing dependence on anti-depressants. Perhaps one of the more surprising findings of his report was that the areas with the highest reported numbers are not in the cities but in the North. I would have thought that working in London with its high pressure and high speed of life would have taken its toll but apparently not. I spent three years there a number of years ago and frankly, wild horses wouldn't persuade me to go back. That said, each to his own and all that. In his report, he revealed statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre. The results show that one in six adults are now being prescribed regular anti-depressants in towns and cities including Barnsley, Redcar, Durham, Middlesborough, Salford, Sunderland and Blackpool. Of course, many of these once boasted thriving mining communities whose end came in the 1980s in the aftermath of the bitter miners' strike. Blackpool though does not fall in to that category. The report estimates that fifty million prescriptions were issued last year for anti-depressants. I don't seek to judge that figure in any way. What I am interested in is the current NICE guidance. The guidance is quite clear. Those with mild to moderate depression should be first be treated with psychological therapies. This is now done well. Last year in Hillingdon (West London), just 2% of those with minor or moderate depression were referred to psychological therapy. Swindon achieved a figure of 25% which is still well short of the mark. By their own admission, the GP leaders in Hillingdon recognise the efficacy of psychological therapy when used so that at least is a step in the right direction - provided the funding is being available to access it. In North Wales where I live, funding for counselling services has only recently been made available at a time when the need has seldom been greater. London is the area with the lowest precribing rates for anti-depressants. Might it be that with so many working, the need for anti-depressants is less? I was shocked this morning to see that a "think tank" has found that declining seaside towns are stuck in a cycle of poverty. This is shocking because to many people living in North Wales like I do, this did not merit the attention of a "think tank". This is common knowledge and has been for at least 30 years. On its website, the BBC features a picture of the sea front at Rhyl. This seems as good as a place as any to start. Rhyl has been in decline for a number of years for a variety of reasons. For one thing, all British seaside towns have been in decline for at least a generation because of higher levels of disposable income and the advent of the package holiday to Spain. Many of these towns were already in the early stages of decline when the decision was taken to relocate families on long term social security to these seaside towns. It would be very easy to jump on the band wagon and label them as scroungers who don't want to work. This would rather churlish tough. I say this because there are two major points to consider. The first is that when people grow up in social security it is not always easy to break the cycle when you know no different. The second point is that the job market in these towns wasn't great in the first place. Taking these two points in to account, it is little wonder that such towns have fared so badly in recent times. The "think tank" to which I refer is the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) set up by Iain Duncan Smith. While I scorn the time taken to recognise what is already obvious to many people anyway, I at least applaud the fact that the ball might actually be rolling. This is the prerequisite for the next step - doing something about it. This problem is not insoluble but will need a watertight strategy. The recent changes to social security implemented by Iain Duncan Smith mean that a lifetime spent on social security will no longer pay. As such, the reward for staying on social security will not seem so attractive in the future. Provided the help is in place to assist people in seeking employment, this can only be a good thing. The CSJ looked at the fortunes of five seaside towns: Rhyl, Margate, Clacton, Blackpool and Great Yarmouth. The report estimates that the cost of working age benefits for the populations of these towns is about £2 billion per annum - the human cost of which is much bigger.  Norman Tebbit recently reminded his interviewer of the words of the great Labour politician Beveridge "the period of time for which a man may draw unemployment benefit should be limited lest men become habituated to idleness". Beveridge of course was responsible for the welfare state in the aftermath of the second world war. It seems therefore that the ideology of Iain Duncan Smith is far more Labour than Conservative judging by these words. Rhyl, Blackpool and the like are all towns deserving of our attention. The easy option is to help them get back on their feet. The hard option is to perpetuate the approach of the last few decades and let them continue their decline. Many people assume a "doom and gloom" attitude when it comes to towns like Rhyl pointing to the recent spate of prominent retailers who have left the town. I see this as an opportunity for the town to re-invent itself and become more cohesive. That social deprivation is there is beyond question but these are still real people. Given the opportunity and the chance, anything is possible. Looking back on the last few weeks of fantastic weather, the demise of Rhyl is all the more sad because it ought to have been bursting at the seams with holidaymakers. That could still happen in the years to come if there is a sufficient will at a community level. Government investment alone is not the answer. As the saying goes "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day - Teach a man to fish and feed him for life".