How mental health loses out in the NHS

A report published today reveals the scandal of insufficient mental health treatment provision in Britain - and how little the NHS does about it. Mental illness is now nearly a half of all ill health suffered by people under 65 - and it is more disabling than most chronic physical disease. Yet only a quarter of those involved are receiving any form of treatment. Academics from King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry are part of the Mental Health Policy Group, a team of distinguished economists, psychologists, doctors and NHS managers who wrote the report. 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 authors write: 'The under-treatment of people with crippling mental illnesses is the most glaring case of health inequality in our country.' The authors argue that we need to rethink cuts to mental health care, and should be expanding care instead.