Skip to main content

Shame on the UK!

I have listed below some bullet points relating to a condition which is not convenient or comfortable for politicians, healthcare chiefs and society to talk about. Can you guess what I'm referring to?


  • It cost the UK 70 million working days last year
  • That figure is up 24% since 2009
  • It costs the economy between £70 and £100 billion per annum in lost productivity, benefit payments and absence from work
  • It causes 28% of illness for the NHS but gets just 13% of the budget
  • Three quarters of those affected receive no treatment
  • Spending on this illness is going down in real terms
  • 50% of affected adults have their first illness by age 15
  • 75% of affected adults have their first illness by age 18
  • 25% of adults suffer some form of this illness all of the time
  • In my medical degree, this illness was granted 7 weeks in 5 years
  • It is not a physical illness so is not thought of in the same way
I hope by now you have guessed what it is because all health begins with mental health - whoever we are!

http://betweendenbighandkeele.blogspot.com/2013/07/mental-health-societys-problem.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tony Blair - Not fade away?

Notwithstanding the current involvement of Gordon Brown in the current political debate surrounding the Scottish Referendum vote, it is customary for former prime ministers of the United Kingdom to fade gracefully in to the background and make way for the new breed. Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath, Jim Callaghan and Harold Wilson all achieved this simple task without too much fuss. John Major occasionally interjects with an opinion but usually long after the boat has left the harbour. Tony Blair alone seems quite oblivious to this unspoken rule of British political life. An eleventh year leading the country was quite enough for Lady Thatcher when her party dispensed with her services. It seems that Tony Blair can't get enough of power. He is beginning to come across as one of those computer viruses which just won't go away once it has been granted access. We begin to rue the day we ever clicked the "yes" button. The virus invades our entire system and seems ubiquito...
3 comments
Read more

Are you being served?

Denbighshire County Council (DCC) have just published their Resident's Survey Report. And an interesting read it is too. But before scrutinising the content of that Report, it is interesting to note that the Local Government Data Unit has just announced that DCC was one of the top 5 performing Councils in Wales during 2015/16. But sadly, the Resident's Survey Report was not used to come to this conclusion. If it had been used, it would be difficult to believe that DCC is one of the best performing councils in Wales - unless the others are even worse. Although I'm not sure if DCC are legally required to conduct a Resident's Survey, I would have thought it to be an obvious thing to do. To quote the Local Government Authority, "Understanding the resident's views is a key element of assessing the effectiveness of an authority, alongside cost and performance information. Furthermore, understanding resident satisfaction and being able to make informed comparison...
2 comments
Read more

Breaking the cycle

I have always been drawn to a good analogy. Recently, a very simple analogy was related to me which can be adapted to just about every walk of life. The analogy tells of a man standing on the banks of a river fishing dead bodies out as they float downstream. Another man comes along and instead walks upstream to try and find where they are coming from. Like all truly great analogies it is beautiful in its simplicity and easy to follow. I applied it in several contexts as I am sure you will already have done. In their wisdom (and if I was inclined to a mere slither of cynicism), the Welsh Government have once again sought to emulate their Scottish cousins by proposing a minimum pricing on alcohol. They claim that a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol might save the Welsh economy £1 billion annually. That is quite a claim. This is apparently based on research assessing crime, illness and workplace absence over the last 20 years. So why not just introduce this measure (no pun intend...
Post a Comment
Read more