There are greater than that 1 million people NHS waiting lists for mental health care within the UK. Many of those people must wait for weeks or months before treatment for situations similar to sadness and anxiety.
And based on the recent BBC personalities, Are 12 times More than 18 months of mental health treatment than patients with physical conditions wait for greater than 18 months.
My research It suggests that joining these waiting lists can’t only have a detrimental effect on the mental health of an individual, but additionally the potential for employment and financial protection.
The reason for that is that each extra month during which a patient has to attend for treatment significantly increases the overall amount of care they’ll need. And it also increases the likelihood that they’ll lose their job due to their condition.
After joining the waiting list, the vast majority of those that lose their job have been unemployed for years. Many people never come back to work.
Among the unemployed, I noticed that nearly HALF receives the advantages of half the incapacity. The remaining half will depend on various state advantages similar to Income Support or Family Family.
Therefore, providing rapid access to mental health care can have a big economic impact personally and for the state. In the Netherlands where I collected my data (it's not available openly within the UK), I calculated that the on average, one month's reduction will save this country greater than $ 300 million (261 Millions) in unemployment costs yearly, similar to paying advantages and income tax.
For the UK, with its large population, it’s going to be translated into greater than $ 1 billion annually.
Recruiting savings
It also shows that the NHS's mental health care list would require nearly 3,000 extra full -time psychologists and psychologists to cut back the list of mental health take care of a month. Annual salaries require lower than 300 million hundreds of thousands, with Million to spend on recruitment and training 700 million.
NHS knows he must do something about these waiting lists. Health Minister Stephen Kink What is the comment: “For a long time, people have been beaten due to a mental health system and have led to big back logs.”
And there's A plan Having more mental health care professionals and increasing training opportunities, which may shortly shorten the waiting hours for mental health care.
Nick Beer/Shutter Stock
In May 2025, the federal government said it could be Opening Mental Health Crisis Centers. Starting with six pilot centers all around the UK, their aim is to alleviate the pressure of A&E departments and treat individuals with severe mental distress.
But to make sure timely access to individuals with extremely severe and severe mental health issues, these plans are unlikely to cut back the waiting time for those waiting for non -emergency care. Total funding budget for brand spanking new crisis centers is 26 million, thus increased NHS mental health care budget About $ 18 billion lower than 0.2 %.
The Royal College of Psychiatrist has also raised concerns about What is described Most of the brand new projects are unlikely to profit patients as a lot of them are also facing physical health issues. These people need fully integrated services moderately than centers for a separate mental health crisis.
It is not going to be easy to cut back waiting lists for mental health care and can come at a substantial financial cost. But my study shows that an economic issue will be made for increasing investment.
The short wait lists will speed up care and help more people to work. The potential advantages in each health and economics can be enough, which can help patients, healthcare systems and society as an entire.