MORE work is needed to provide Somerset men with mental health support, the county council has said.

The Somerset Mental Well-being Service (SMWS) has been operating since January and provides support to people dealing with mental health problems alongside existing clinical support within the NHS.

Tim Baverstock, the council’s strategic commissioning manager for adults and health, said the service had helped more than 200 people since its inception and that positive feedback had been received.

However, he said, there was an issue with men failing to engage with the service and “dropping out”, stating that more should be done to reach out to men across the county.

Mr Baverstock in a report on the service to a meeting of the council’s adults and health scrutiny committee, said: “It is early days, but we have had some positive impact so far.

“People are reporting that they found accessing the service easy, with a timely response, and they are pleasantly surprised that access to the service is not diagnosis-dependent, but is instead about what they want to achieve and the support that they need to do so.”

Between the launch of SMWS in January and the end of May, 257 people have contacted the service- of these, 202 have gone on to receive support, with a 40-60 split between men and women.

Cllr Bill Revans raised concerns about the figure, stating: “It is well known that there is an increase in suicide among young men, and I wonder what plan is in place to address that.”

Mr Baverstock said in his report that men were more likely to experience mental health problems than women but that research had shown that women were more likely to seek diagnosis and support to deal with it.

“We are working with Mind, Compass Disability Services and Chard Watch CIC about how we can engage people better and see if there is anything we can do to reach out,@ he said. “We need to reach more men wherever we can.”

Of the people currently accessing SMWS, 75 per cent were people who were not in employment or education.

Just under half (49 per cent) were between 40 and 64 years old, with 32 per cent 18 to 39 and 12 per cent 65 or over.

Mr Baverstock said the £400,000 being spent on the service was “not a significant number” in the context of wider mental health spend, and could reduce people receiving intensive support.

Cllr Christine Lawrence agreed, stating: “This is not necessarily going to save money, but the money will be used differently and enable us to help more people earlier. One in four of us will have a mental health problem at some point in our lives.”