Mental health needs urgent extra funding after ‘catastrophic’ impact of pandemic, doctors warn

Ministers should prioritise mental health in the NHS Covid recovery plan by pledging a significant cash injection to deal with record levels of cases, psychiatrists have said.

The pandemic’s impact on the NHS’s ability to deal with a backlog of mental health cases has been “catastrophic”, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP).

Failure to allocate more funding could “wipe out years of progress,” the doctors warned.

A record number of about 1.5 million people received mental health support in June, according to NHS England.

This is the highest number since records began, and 12.4 per cent more than the same time last year in the first few months of the pandemic.

In addition, an estimated 1.6m people in England are waiting for treatment – including 374,000 under-18s – but the RCP believes that the total figure is likely to be higher.

New referrals for mental health services for people of all ages are up 24 per cent. In June 392,703 referrals were made, compared to the 316,974 made in June 2020.

In addition, an estimated 8m people in England with mental health problems cannot get specialist help for their mental health struggles because they are deemed to be not sick enough.

The RCP said that Chancellor Rishi Sunak needs to announce £3 billion of new capital investment over three years in his upcoming Spending Review to address long-term challenges, such as the condition of mental health buildings, and to improve digital technology and research.

The psychiatrists said the government should also pledge an additional £400m per year by 2024/25 for drug and alcohol misuse services – in line with recommendations from the Dame Carol Black review.

To tackle the mental health backlog, ministers should commit to increasing medical school places in England to 15,000 by 2028/29, at a cost of £1.85bn when fully implemented.

They argue that the government should also ensure that core psychiatry training places are allocated to schools encouraging students to choose a shortage specialty like psychiatry.

These sums of money should be in addition to existing budgets and commitments, the doctors stressed.

RCP president Dr Adrian James is set to give evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s inquiry on the NHS’s backlog.

Mental health was not mentioned in the recent announcement of £5.4bn for NHS pandemic recovery and backlog clearing.

Ahead of the committee’s inquiry session on Tuesday, Dr James said: “We mustn’t overlook mental health when tackling the NHS backlog.

“The pandemic has been catastrophic for mental health and its devastating impact will be with us for years, but we shouldn’t let it wipe out years of progress.

“We need the right resources and decisive action on the long-term challenges to help stretched services that are struggling to meet demand.

“This means building new mental health hospitals, transforming our outdated infrastructure and training more specialist doctors to provide high quality care.

“But this is about more than just the NHS – public health and the prevention of illness must be a top priority as well.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told The Independent: “As part of our Long Term Plan for the NHS we are transforming mental health services in England with an extra £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24.

“In addition, our £500 million Mental Health Recovery Action Plan will ensure we offer the right support over the coming year to help people with a variety of mental health conditions.

“The government is determined to ensure the NHS has the funding it needs to support those whose mental health has suffered during the pandemic and ensure everyone is able to access the help and advice they need.”