Last time we had an epidemic as severe as this we went into a national lockdown, so why are we still just raising awareness in mental health?

In this guest article, Dr Melinda Rees describes our current reality in the UK where the greatest ever need for mental health support is met with silence from those with the power to take action. The nation stands at a crossroads, grappling with the unconscionable consequences of pervasive mental distress.

It's fair to say it's been a busy few weeks for mental health in the media, with lots of coverage and attention on the sector. Earlier this month, a report in The Guardian declared mental healthcare a national emergency, with hospital bosses sounding the alarm that it has slipped down the list of priorities. Then, on 10th October it was World Mental Health Day, with celebrities and princesses speaking out about mental health and encouraging people to seek support. Following this were several articles focusing on deteriorating mental health in children and the news that Meta has been sued for causing damage to young people’s mental health.

What we haven’t seen, however, is any real action or assurance from the government. Rishi Sunak remained avoidant at the Conservative Party conference. Labour did slightly better, reiterating their pledges to roll out early support hubs for young people, put mental health support in every school, and increase recruitment of NHS mental health staff, but they are still lacking a substantive plan for how they will get anywhere near the numbers of clinicians required to deliver the level of mental health services needed.

Right now there are 1.9 million people waiting for mental health treatment in the UK, a third of 17-25 year-olds sought help for their mental health last year. These aren’t people who are suffering in silence or not coming forward for support (though there will be many more of those) these are people who have actively sought help and haven’t been able to get it. Raising awareness and encouraging people to ask for help is all very well, but are we just directing them towards the hope of support which isn’t there?

The consequences of the mental health crisis are stark: someone dies by suicide every 90 minutes in the UK, and 78% of those are men. For young people, the impact on their education, their confidence and their futures can be devastating, yet if intervention is given at an early age, it can be transformative.

Last time we had an epidemic as severe as this, we went into a national lockdown, so why aren't we taking the same strength of action for mental health? The answer is complex, but one of the key solutions lies in bridging the gap between the demand for mental health support and the available resources. Recruitment of clinical staff is important, but we can’t magic more clinicians overnight: we need to look at technology, at digital solutions, at biomarkers, at wearables and we need to address the antecedents and determinants of mental ill health. ?

Currently, when a person presents with mental health symptoms, they are seen by multiple different clinicians before getting onto a treatment waiting list, and even then, there is a 30% chance it will turn out to be the wrong one. This means lots of delays, repeating of sensitive information, and in the worst cases, ending up in A&E or inappropriate hospital admissions as primary care is broken.

Technology solutions such as Censeo (a digital web-based triage and assessment platform, powered by AI) may not be the silver bullet that will solve the whole mental health crisis, but it clearly has a crucial role to play through its ability to open up access to treatment, leverage frictionless clinical efficiency and reduce cost to the economy. Moreover, it is more accurate in its’ clinical decision making than our current workforce. Combined with this, the government needs to prioritise mental health and allocate adequate investment to turn this growing epidemic around. Unwell children become unwell adults and their children suffer for that.

Dr Melinda Rees is the CEO of Psyomics. She is a pioneering Consultant Clinical Psychologist, having successfully transitioned her 20-year clinical career into a series of strategic leadership positions in the international and independent healthcare sector.? You can follow Melinda here on LinkedIn.