It’s the forgotten victims I fear for most

FearS for the future? a general feeling of helplessness? Frustration at our loss of freedom? a sense of disorientation at just how fast life has changed as millions of us adapt to working from home, to queuing to get into the supermarket, and seeing family and friends only on video?

no doubt all of the above will sound familiar as we all struggle to cope with life in lockdown.

But this week, i want to dedicate my column to the forgotten victims of this pandemic, many of whom are the patients my colleagues and i would see routinely before coronavirus led to our deployment elsewhere.

So let us spare a thought for people suffering from chronic depression or who struggle with suicidal thoughts.

For them, isolation is not what the doctor ordered.

Mental health patients are some of the tragic collateral damage unwittingly created by the desperate re-organisation of the nHS in response to covid-19.

Don’t get me wrong. The health system is performing incredibly under huge pressure.

it is something that is making everyone proud — just look at the millions of people who turned out again on Thursday night to clap and show their appreciation.

We all knew that there would be changes to the services we offer, but the scale and speed of these changes has been simply breathtaking to witness.

The unintended consequence is that many mental health patients have, in effect, been abandoned.

The services on which they rely up and down the country are being suspended as resources are diverted.

Most are now only operating with little or no outpatient provision, a greatly reduced inpatient ward and a crisis team for those who are actively suicidal.

a few clinics are offering support via video- conferencing for the most seriously affected, but that is patchy and demand is great.

as regular readers know, i work in a specialist eating disorder service. We have patients who have been waiting months for an appointment and who have now been put on hold indefinitely.

Of course, it’s not just mental health services. Many other services across the nHS have also been closed.

Friends who work in paediatrics and cardiology have had to abandon their clinics and patients to help out on the corona frontline.

cancer patients have had operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy cancelled. Stroke and heart attack victims may not get the emergency treatment they need.

i shudder at what the fall- out will mean for all these patients — but as a psychiatrist, what i am seeing makes me profoundly worried for the mentally ill and for those who may become so.

We are living through unprecedented times and this will take a huge toll on everyone’s wellbeing. When we emerge from it, i fear the mental health care system will be woefully unprepared to cope.

But what about the challenges now? a study by King’s college london has found that putting suspected coronavirus patients in quarantine could cause long-lasting, psychological damage.

SPENDING

weeks in isolation can trigger PTSD, depression, feelings of confusion, anger and fear, and even drug abuse.

a friend, who is a secretary at a hospital trust in london, tells me receptionists have been warned that they will have to deal as best they can with acutely psychotic patients who phone in.

Some of these will be experiencing paranoia and hearing voices, because they are no longer being monitored in the community and have stopped taking their medication.

Yesterday, the tragic death toll due to coronavirus had reached 3,605 in the UK.

The chilling truth is that the number of deaths will potentially be far higher if we include mental health patients who can’t get the help they need.

Often the most vulnerable and isolated at the best of times, they are facing months without any form of support.

it breaks my heart to think of what is going on right now behind many closed doors around the country.

Some mental health sufferers are totally alone, while others are reliant on their families, who are buckling under the strain.

Yes, we must fight the scourge of coronavirus with all the resources we can muster — but in doing so, we cannot ignore the thousands of other patients who are being sacrificed.