The Healthcare Commission has clearly sworn an oath to tell some of the whole truth and nothing but some of the whole truth in its annual review of NHS performance released today. The annual health check says the NHS is performing better than ever. There are small concessions that things like hygiene must improve, but implies we should celebrate the fact that patients are seen 18 weeks after a GP referral.
But not all waiting times are actually measured. If you're referred for psychological 'talking' therapies for a condition like depression or schizophrenia you'd be lucky to be seen within six months. Some people wait two years. And just like a physical condition that festers away getting worse when not treated, a mental health condition will also spiral.
The consequences of not getting help in time are broken relationships, more time off work or long-term unemployment, according to a mental health charity coalition called We Need to Talk.
And the case for psychological therapies is clear - they can help prevent hospital admissions and reduce relapses, for people with moderate conditions and more severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has been recommending psychological therapies for people with a range of mental illnesses for years – but 68% of people with schizophrenia aren't getting this treatment, Rethink has discovered.
So psychological therapies are proven effective and in the long-term reduce costs. They ought to qualify for the 'gold star' rating from the Healthcare Commission, a "double excellence score". And they could benefit thousands – one in four of us will have a mental health problem at some stage. Yet psychological therapies continue to be treated as a side issue. Even the new millions of government investment will only reach people with anxiety and depression, rather than everyone with mental illness. The only option for hundreds of thousands with severe mental illness is to pay from their own pocket – during the credit crunch.
This will be the last report from the Healthcare Commission: a new watchdog is set to take over monitoring the NHS. If it wants to gain a realistic overview of NHS performance on all health conditions it must look at all waiting times, for all conditions – and not selectively exclude mental illness from the picture.
• Paul Corry is director of Rethink
