Centre for Mental Health and Society

Severe mental illness

Mental ill health is the single largest cause of disability in the UK, contributing up to 22.8% of the total burden, compared to 15.9% for cancer and 16.2% for cardiovascular disease (1). The wider economic costs of mental illness in England have been estimated at £105.2 billion each year. This includes direct costs of services, lost productivity at work and reduced quality of life (2). In 2008/9, the NHS spent 10.8% of its annual secondary healthcare budget on mental health services, which amounted to £10.4 billion (3). Service costs which include NHS, social and informal care costs amounted to £22.5 billion in 2007 in England (4).

There are many aspects of enduring disorders and service provision that have been and are currently the subject of research, such as Recovery, care Coordination and Care Planning, Early Intervention in Psychosis and Assertive Outreach services, Crisis services and Home treatment, rehabilitation and out of area placements.

Enduring mental health problems are usually taken to mean the following: Psychosis, Bipolar disorder, Personality Disorders, Eating Disorders and Self-Harm. It is worth pointing out that common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression can also be enduring, and we would not want to rule out research into these conditions. In the case of depression, for instance, while understood to be a time-limited disorder lasting on several months with return to usual function afterwards, it is now clear that incomplete recovery and relapse are common. The World Health Organization (WHO) study of mental disorders in 14 centres across the world found that 50% still had a diagnosis of depression 1 year later and at least 10% of patients have persistent or chronic depression.

Tony Ryan has lead long term work understanding outer of area placement with John Carden other members of CFMHAS e.g.

Poole R, Ryan T, Pearsall A (2002) The NHS, the private sector, and the virtual asylum, British Medical Journal, 325, 349-350.

Ryan T, Pearsall A, Hatfield B, Poole R (2004) Long term care for serious mental illness outside the NHS: a study of out of area placements, Journal of Mental Health, 13, 425-429.

Ryan T, Carden J, Higgo R, Poole R, Robinson CA (2016) An assessment of need for mental health rehabilitation amongst in-patients in a Welsh region. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology DOI 10.1007/s00127-016-1213-8 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00127-016-1213-8

References

  1. No health without mental health: A cross Government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages Supporting document – The economic case for improving efficiency and quality in mental health (2011)
  2. Department of Health (2010) The NHS Outcomes Framework 2011/12, available at: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_122944 2 Department of Health (2010) Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Transparency in outcomes – proposals for a public health outcomes framework, available at: www.dh.gov.uk/en/ Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_122962 3
  3. Department of Health (2010) Transparency in Outcomes: A framework for adult social care – a consultation on proposals, available at: http://tinyurl.com/SocialCareOutcomesConsult
  4. Department of Health (2010) Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England, available at: http://tinyurl.com/HealthyLivesHealthyPeople

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