Mental health struggles for millions due to pandemic

The Royal College of Psychiatrists says that significant investment is needed to respond to the 1.8 million new presentations, recurrences or exacerbations of mental ill health expected as a direct or indirect result of the pandemic until 2023.

The college says that years of underinvestment in mental health have also created the largest backlog in the history of the NHS with 1.5 million people currently waiting for care with mental illnesses such as eating disorders, addictions, severe anxiety or depression. Increased demand due to coronavirus combined with anticipated population increases between now and 2029 may mean that demand will not return to pre-pandemic levels.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling for £4.9 billion recovery funding for mental health services in this spending review to tackle the largest mental health backlog in the history of the NHS, bring NHS Long Term Plan targets back on track and treat mental ill health in the aftermath of the pandemic. Psychiatrists estimate that a £3 billion capital investment, plus £1 billion for the day-to-day running of the mental health estate is required over the next three years, to ensure existing hospitals are safe. Part of this money should be used for completing the work to eliminate dormitories and address mixed sex accommodation, as well as for building new or redeveloping existing facilities for community mental health services.  

It’s also calling for £535 million in this spending review to build the first six new mental health hospitals from the total of the 12 needed by 2030.  

Dr Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Tokenistic mentions of mental health make no difference to the lives of the millions of people, who are stripped of their dignity while having to wait for treatment. What they need, instead, is significant investment to build better mental health in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“Mental health shouldn’t be at the bottom of the list of government priorities in this spending review. Capital investment in the mental health estate, new facilities and workforce funding can make it possible for more people to gain faster access to treatment. Investment will not only help reduce waiting times but will also improve quality of care for mental health patients.”