Only a quarter of people with mental health problems receive any treatment, despite it accounting for nearly half of all ill health suffered by people under 65, a new report has revealed.
This under-treatment of people with mental illnesses is the most glaring case of health inequality in the UK, the report, How mental illness loses out in the NHS, concluded.
The report, by the London School of Economics’ Mental Health Policy Group, a team of economists, psychologists, doctors and NHS managers convened by Professor Lord Layard, said that it is a “scandal” that with 6 million people with depression or anxiety conditions and 700,000 children with problem behaviours, anxiety or depression, three quarters of each group get no treatment.
Mental illness accounts for 23% of the total burden of disease. Yet, despite the existence of cost-effective treatments, it receives only 13% of NHS health expenditure, the report found.
For full story see Mental Health Today website
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