NHS: Mental Health is a “Postcode Lottery”

The mental health crisis has no geographical boundaries and reaches into virtually every British community but the same cannot be said for the distribution of psychiatrists.

The spread of National Health Service psychiatrists is so unbalanced that for any given number of patients there are two and a half times as many psychiatrists in parts of London as in some regions.

Postcode Lottery

That is according to new research by the professional organisation, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which called the situation a “postcode lottery” in which access to treatment varies wildly based on where you live.

“For every 100,000 people in North Central and East London, there are approximately 13 consultant psychiatrists available to provide specialist mental health care on the NHS, while the East of England and Yorkshire and Humber benefit from less than half that number – just five for every 100,000 people,” said the college.

Wales has just six psychiatrists per 100,000 people while North West London has exactly twice that number.

The RCPsych blamed the shortage of psychiatrists in so many parts of the UK on fewer medical students being drawn to focus on psychiatry.

“While the government has recently pledged an expansion of the mental health workforce to the tune of 570 extra consultant psychiatrists by the year 2020-21,

the number of medical students specialising in psychiatry has all but flat-lined,” it said. “In England, over the five years since March 2012, psychiatry consultants increased by just 1.7%, while the number of consultants across the rest of the NHS increased by 20.2%.”

Medical students say that one problem is the perception that psychiatrists just sit and talk to patients, a much less glamorous image than that of specialisms like conducting brain surgery. Experts say the historic stigma towards mental illness has also haunted the profession.

But despite that perception the profession is certainly a proud one. “Despite the challenges, mental health services consistently rate highly in nationwide polls on indicators such as staff satisfaction with the quality of work and care they are able to deliver no matter where psychiatrists are based across the country,” said the RCPsych. “The 2016 NHS Staff Survey showed that the top three trusts where medical staff in training felt personally satisfied with the quality of work and care they could deliver were from the mental health sector.”

#ChoosePsychiatry

As a result of the report, the college has launched a campaign to encourage more medical students to study mental health.

Professor Wendy Burn, the president of the RCPsych, (left) drew attention to the different response that mental health problems get compared to physical illnesses.

“People with a severe mental illness should expect to see a specialist consultant, just as you would for a severe physical illness,” she said. “The huge variation in consultant psychiatrists across the country means reality is increasingly falling short of our expectations.”

Dr Kate Lovett, dean of the RCPsych, stressed that Londoners are not the only people who need mental health services. “As a consultant psychiatrist I lead a community mental health team in Devon. Mental illness affects people even in the most apparently idyllic of places to live and work. Nothing beats seeing someone who you have been alongside through an incredibly difficult time start to get better.”

by Stewart Vickers

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