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The Include For Good Rapporteur team first met with Stephen Gallagher back in November 2024.
As promised Stephen came along to update the team on Tuesday 27th May 2025. Unfortunately his colleague Joanne was unable to attend but Stephen brought his colleague Marianne Barker along with him instead. Marianne is the new Unit Head, LDAN Bill.
Together they told us what the Mental Health Directorate has been working on since we last met.
Stephen reassured us that the LDAN Bill team is all still in place and working hard on the draft legislation even though it is not being presented in Parliament this session.
Marianne explained that they were getting the draft Bill ready to be published before the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026. The draft Bill will therefore be ready for whoever is in government next to take it forward.
Stephen was very pleased to tell us there is a 10 million pound programme to get many more Changing Places toilets in place across Scotland.
If you want to find out more about what Changing Places toilets are click here ChangingPlaces Toilets
There is also a Changing places app to help you find a fully accessible toilet. This gives you all the information you need to access the Changing Place.
You can download this for Android phones here Changing Places Toilet Finder - Apps on Google Play
Download the app for Apple phones here https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/changing-places-toilet-finder/id1160975684
Work to get Annual Health Checks in place for people with learning disabilities has been really varied across Scotland. Some areas have not started this work. Others have been very creative in thinking about how they are going to make these work in their area.
Stephen advised that he has asked all Health Boards for an update. They will then use this data to plan how they will get the message out about Annual Health Checks all across the country.
We heard that the Mental Health Directorate will use information from 2 different reports to help them to pull together a plan to move work forward on getting people with learning disabilities out of long stay hospitals.
1. The Scottish Human Rights Commissions Tick Tock Report and Toolkit
2. The Mental Welfare Commissions Hospital is Not Home report
Information gathered from the Dynamic Support Register will help them to focus on people who have been in hospital the longest and work back from there.
Stephen said he was disappointed to report that the consultation on the definition of mental disorder has been delayed. Getting learning disability taken out of the definition of mental disorder was a big concern for the Rapporteurs when we met with Stephen last year.
Stephen advised that this work has not dropped in priority. He explained that they have been told they need to more in depth work on the Adults With Incapacity Bill. This work needs to be done before they can consult on a definition of mental disorder.
Following this second meeting the Rapporteurs, Stephen and Marianne agreed to stay in touch and keep each other informed on work we are doing. We will arrange to meet again when we feel there is more to discuss.Stephen suggested that for our next meeting we might want to bring more people from across the Mental Health Directorate together at the same time.
From left to right: Kris McLaughlin, Rosie Murray, John Gallon, Stephen Gallagher, Marianne Barker, Natalie Patterson(seated), John Kearney (on screen), Dylan Stevens (standing), Fraser brown(seated), John Clarke (on screen).
