Mental health costs set to rise

The cost of caring for people with mental illness will rise to £47bn by 2026, according to a new report.

The King's Fund think-tank said on Wednesday that the £22.5bn spent in 2007 would increase as a result of demographic changes.

While it said that most mental illnesses would remain stable, it predicted that 937,636 people would have dementia because of the ageing population.

The 61 per cent increase in dementia cases would significantly affect the cost of caring for people with mental illness, it said.

With the £41bn cost of lost earnings, the report estimated that the total bill for England would be £88bn within 20 years.

This is compared to the £26.1bn spent on supporting people unable to work because of mental illness in 2007, and the £22.5bn NHS spend on social care services.

Report author professor Martin Knapp said: "We found that paying for more people to be treated would create net savings as reductions in lost employment costs would outweigh treatment costs.

"With a third of adults with depression and half with anxiety disorders not in touch with services, there is significant potential to treat more people with those illnesses and make savings because of the boost to the workforce.

"The problem is that the costs of care fall largely to the health service, whereas the economic benefits mostly accrue elsewhere - to employers, the taxman, the benefits system and the criminal justice system.

"The government, the NHS, social services and employers need to extend efforts to help people with mental health needs who are of working age but not in employment to get back to work."

King's Fund chief executive Niall Dickson said: "The fact that we are living longer is a cause for celebration but it will mean that the health and social care systems will have to cope with a dramatic increase in the number of people suffering from dementia.

"Unless there is a major breakthrough in drugs to arrest the course of this illness, there will be a great need for extra care and support, some of it quite intense."

Calling for policymakers to "plan for future demand", he said there was "a high level of unmet need and that will need to be addressed".

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said mental health was "the forgotten scandal within the NHS".

"Services have commanded less favourable coverage, less government attention, and less money," he said.

"Without the government making this a priority, money will continue to be diverted away from mental health services."