Glasgow is the third worst uni in the UK at dealing with mental health

The University of Glasgow has come third last, 28th out of 30 universities, in The Tab’s inaugural mental health rankings. 

Glasgow’s ranking is a result of abysmal student satisfaction – just 22 per cent of students who told the university that they had a mental health problem said they had found it had helped them, the worst in the entire UK. The national average waiting time for university counselling services was 26 days last year – Glasgow’s average  was nearly 85 days, also the worst in the UK.

The university’s investment score (which tracks investment in the counselling service) is one of the best in the UK, demonstrating that the university is committing to resolving the issues with the service.

However, the university scored poorly on three out of the other five financial measures, highlighting the previous underinvestment in the counselling service. The university now spends nearly £21 per student on the counselling service, 16th in the UK, up from just over £10 five years ago.

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The Tab’s 2016 Mental Health Rankings are the first ever attempt to judge universities on how they treat mental health, with the aim to improve standards nationally, reward good universities, and highlight underperforming universities. Some 30 of the best universities in the UK are included.

74 per cent of students did not apply for extenuating circumstances, despite being ill. This reflects the national average, and it’s a pattern reflected in other top academic universities: over 86 per cent of Oxford students did the same.

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The new rankings are the result of increased media coverage over students’ mental health. Until now, there had been no detailed examinations of how universities across Britain are coping with increasing numbers of students struggling with mental health issues.

Demand for mental health services has shot up at a time when there are less resources to go around. The NHS is facing front-line cuts that particularly affect students – GP practices at universities get less money than other general practices. The lack of trained psychiatrists across Britain, plus the “cascade” of cuts down the NHS, mean that universities have been pushed into the front-line.

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According to Jeremy Christey, who works in the Sussex University Counselling Service as well as running StudentAgainstDepression.org, NHS cuts have had a staggered impact on mental health care:

“The NHS threshold has gone up, which means that it’s harder to get access to treatment in all parts of mental health services. There’s less money for inpatient services, so more complex people are in the care of crisis services, which means that more people go from crisis to lower-tier services. There’s a cascade effect that impacts students, and as NHS trusts know that students have a university counselling service to go to, people can often be pointed back in our direction.”

This means both doctors and counsellors are working harder than ever to treat as many students as they can. Nationally, stories abound of students who haven’t been seen in months, or who have asked for help only to be turned aside, at both counselling services and doctor’s offices. Glasgow has a waiting list of seven to ten months, and York has had to re-evaluate its entire mental health provision.

Glasgow’s service has been maintained, but students have reported serious issues.

Rebecca* was just weeks into her first term at the University of Glasgow when she was sent to the university’s Counselling Service in October 2014 by her university GP. She had been self-harming herself to the point of hospital admission most weeks.

“They sent me to the Counselling Service but I was told that there was a good chance I wouldn’t get a place as I wasn’t “ill enough”. Somedays I was so ill and wouldn’t be well enough to go into university and my advisor of studies basically though I was making it up. He wanted proof that I wasn’t simply skiving like freshers sometime do.

“In November, I was a little impromptu with him – when I spoke to him, I still had my fresh scars and bandages. Showing them to him soon changed his mind.”

Rebecca never went back to counselling – turned off by the attitude and the lack of support. Another student mentioned anecdotal reports of seven to ten month waits to see a counsellor – with data confirming that over twenty students waited over six months this year. The same student then reported she was told to “dance in the kitchen”, rather than being given serious support.

Despite the somewhat negative outlook, Dr Thomson still stressed the importance of going to your GP: “Often with psychiatric or psychological care of any kind, there’s a waiting list. It’s important for us to say to patients, look: “You’re on the list, you will be seen.” In the mean time, we offer bridging work, often with third sector organisations, like group work or a couple of one-on-one counselling sessions, that provide some level of care before they can get treated properly.”

On the university’s part, a spokesperson for Glasgow said:

“Student welfare is one of the highest priorities for the University of Glasgow. We have made significant improvements to our counselling services, including increased visibility of the options available to our students. This commitment to raising awareness has led to a 21% increase in demand for mental health support over the past year.

“We have a very rigorous and well worked out approach to anyone who requests or requires assistance. Cases which are deemed to be priority are fast tracked to the appropriate treatment, and over the past 12 months 169 priority cases have been processed in this way, taking precedence over other cases on the waiting lists.

“However we also provide daily consultation and drop-in sessions for students who present with personal risk issues, including self-harm. Almost 1,000 consultations have been undertaken on this basis in the past twelve months.

“The Counselling and Psychological Service at the University of Glasgow was recently recognised in the, ‘Herald Higher Education awards’ as, ‘Student Service Team of the year 2016’ for the wider management and treatment of mental health crisis work.

“Our commitment to our students is absolute, as is our assurance of confidentiality. Without further information and the consent of the students concerned, we cannot investigate or comment on the claims made. We would encourage any students who may be experiencing issues to contact and talk to us so that we can make their time at the University of Glasgow a very happy, fulfilling and rewarding experience.”

It should also be noted that Glasgow have relatively recently recruited a new head for their counselling service. However, at the moment it seems that any impact they may have had is limited. Time will tell.