Department of Health and Social Care
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Johnson announces £170 million boost to mental health therapies
Health Secretary Alan Johnson today announced a substantial £170 million expansion of psychological therapies to provide better support for people with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
Millions of people suffer from depression and anxiety. These are the most common of the mental health problems, which account for 40% of the numbers on Incapacity Benefit. Treating them is estimated to take up about a third of GPs' time.
Psychological therapies have proved to be as effective as drugs in tackling these common mental health problems and are often more effective in the longer term. NICE guidelines on treatment for depression and anxiety recommend therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Building on two demonstration projects, the Government will next year roll out psychological therapies to twenty new areas before increasing services to cover the whole country over the next few years.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson said:
"More than one in six people suffer from mental health problems at any one time. For many people prescribing medication is a successful treatment but we know that psychological therapies work equally well.
"Today's announcement shows the government's commitment to mental health. Improving access to psychological therapies will give people with mental health problems a real choice of treatment, helping to reduce dependence on medication."
By 2010/11, the NHS will spend £170m per year on psychological therapies, with more than £30m in 2008/09 and more than £100m in 2009/10. Over the next three years, this investment in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) will mean:
- 900,000 more people treated for depression and anxiety
- 450,000 of them are likely to be completely cured (as expected with NICE guidelines)
- 25,000 fewer people with mental health problems on sick pay and benefits
- 3,600 more newly trained psychological therapists giving evidence-based treatment
- all GP practices having access to psychological therapies as the programme rolls out
- average waiting for psychological treatments down from the current 18 months to a few weeks (in line with urgent outpatient waiting times in the rest of the NHS) as the service rolls out
Lord Richard Layard, co-author of the London School of Economics Depression Report said:
'This is great news and just what we've all been waiting for. Mental health is the biggest social problem in our country. This new service will bring relief from misery to millions of people.
'I'm delighted the Government has committed to implement the NICE guidelines on treating depression and, importantly, is doing so in the first big announcement of the new spending review.'
Health Minister Ivan Lewis said:
"This major expansion of psychological therapies represents a historic transformation of mental health services in our country. These new services will ensure people have the support to cope with anxiety and depression while minimising the stigma associated with using mental health services."
Notes for Editors:
1. Mental health problems are the largest single cause of disability and illness in England - accounting for
- 40% of all disability (physical and mental)
- nearly 40% of people on Incapacity Benefit (and a secondary factor for 10% more of them)
- a third of all GPs' time
2. About 1 in 6 UK adults has a common mental health condition (i.e. depression or anxiety disorders) and an estimated 91m working days a year are lost to mental illness. The Government has set an aspiration to raise the number of working age adults in employment from 75-80% of the working age population, and has a target to reduce the number of people on Incapacity Benefit.
3. Huge numbers of people suffering from these conditions are not getting the treatment they need to bring them out of the misery these conditions involve. Those in treatment are only
- 1 in 4 of those diagnosed
- less than half of those in a 'depressive episode'
- taking drugs prescribed by their GP, although they would prefer the more-recently developed 'therapy'
4. Professor Lord Layard of the LSE puts the total economic loss, in sick leave, lost jobs and reduced output, due to depression and chronic anxiety at
- £12 billion a year - 1% of our national income
- £7 billion of this hits the taxpayer in incapacity benefits paid out and income tax not received
5. A review of the policies needed to improve mental health, with a particular focus on supporting people to gain employment and stay in employment was announced in the 2006 Budget. The review recommended that improving the way that people with a mental health condition are supported and treated, with a holistic approach engaging individuals, employers, and GPs, as well as Jobcentre Plus and the wider NHS.
6. GPs play a key role in supporting people with common mental health problems. Recognising this, Government will be working with the Royal College of GPs to ensure the curriculum reflects best practice.
7. The two national IAPT demonstration sites at Newham and Doncaster have achieved:
- Impressive recovery rates that replicate clinical trial and are in line with NICE guidelines (50-60% on most rigorous measures)
- Excellent recording of treatment outcomes for the first time in mental health (90%), leading to an opportunity for a nationwide system of routine outcomes monitoring and thus to more improvements
- Significant achievement in helping people off statutory sick pay and back to work/volunteering/education/training
- Treating large numbers of people in a short period of time from a standing start - more than 1,000 in Newham and more than 4,000 in Doncaster
- Meeting previously unidentified and unmet need by opening to self-referral - in Newham's community people came forward who were just as ill as those referred by GPs and whose conditions were twice as chronic (four years long rather than two). They responded as well as those referred by GPs.
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