Is austerity making us ill?

NEW analysis of NHS Digital data by mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness reported only last week that there are ‘huge regional variation of the numbers of people subject to the Mental Health Act.’

It added: “Approximately 20,000 people are subject to the Act in any given month, and in the last decade, there has been a 47pc increase in detentions. Being ‘subject to’ the Mental Health Act includes those who are held under the Act for their own safety or for the safety of others, also known as being ‘sectioned.’”

I notice from their online interactive map of the UK that in the NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG area, 66.37 people were subject to the Mental Health Act per 100,000. This is well above the national average of 36.22 people per 100,000.

In addition, analysis by the University of East London showed that between October 2015 and September 2016 the average number of schizophrenia prescriptions in Rochdale was 34 per 1,000 people, the third highest in the country. This compares to the average number of schizophrenia prescriptions across England of 19 for every 1,000 people.

I would like to ask if this ‘statistical cluster,’ showing the very high incidence of mental illness, is down primarily to genetic factors in the local population which somehow make them more susceptible to mental illness, or is it simply a reflection of the higher deprivation and poverty?

In other words, is poverty and austerity making local people mentally ill?

And shouldn’t this issue warrant far more investigation by the local media to establish what is affecting so many local people in our geographical area? Andrew Wastling