Poor mental health costs UK £300bn
Bill for crisis ‘is double NHS budget’
POOR mental health cost £300billion in 2022 – double the NHS budget, research has revealed.
It covers sickness absence, reduced quality of life plus wellbeing and healthcare costs, the Centre for Mental Health charity said.
The NHS Confederation’s mental health network, asked to carry out the research, said a failure to invest in early help is a false economy making the UK poorer and “causing unspoken anguish”.
The report said the majority of costs stemming from mental ill-health fall on sufferers and families – some £175billion. There is a £101billion cost to firms including lost earnings and poor mental health at work.
Researchers said that the study also incorporates some of the wider costs including presenteeism where someone with difficulties attends work but is less productive due to impaired cognitive function and emotional distress.
The report said estimating the economic cost “helps us to appreciate the significance of mental ill-health as an issue deserving of policy attention, investment and reform”. The authors said higher investment in “cost-effective health and care interventions – such as community services, early intervention and prevention – may reduce economic and human costs”.
A Resolution Foundation report has suggested people in their early 20s are more likely to be out of work due to ill-health than those in their early 40s.
That study found 34% of those aged 18 to 24 reported symptoms of problems such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder in 2021/22.
Andy Bell, Centre chief executive said: “These figures signal an urgent need for the Government, and all political parties...to prioritise the public’s mental health. This is like a pandemic happening every year.”
NHS Confederation’s Sean Duggan said: “The false economy of failing to invest in mental health is making the country poorer and causing unspoken anguish to so many people and their loved ones.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride was recently criticised for stating there was “a real risk” that “the normal ups and downs of human life” were labelled as medical conditions that stopped people working.