Mental health cuts cost the NHS millions, charity says
Posted: April 10, 2014 Filed under: News | Tags: BBC News, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, dementia care, early detection services, Family therapy, Mental Health Care, mental health cuts, NHS millions of pounds, Psychosis, Rethink, schizophrenia Leave a comment
More cases of psychosis and schizophrenia now end up in hospital rather than being treated in the community, it said.
Rethink Mental Illness published the report with the London School of Economics.
Cuts mean fewer people have access to early intervention treatment, such as talking therapy, Rethink said.
It said the NHS could save more than £50m a year by shifting its focus.
The report said it costs on average £13 a day to support someone with psychosis or schizophrenia in the community.
It said this compared with the £350 average daily cost of keeping a mental health patient in hospital.
‘Shift of resources’
Meanwhile, 54% of the psychosis budget was being spent on inpatient care rather than on preventive community services, the report found.
Family therapy, where families of people with psychosis and schizophrenia are supported, cognitive behavioural therapy, and peer support could help cut long-term costs of care, it said.
Health Minister Norman Lamb said early access to treatment in the community was “often the best option” for people with psychosis and schizophrenia.
He said: “Not only do they benefit from being in familiar surroundings among loved ones but they are less likely to need costly hospital stays.”
Mr Lamb called for a “shift of resources” to preventive care and said that the government had given NHS England a “clear objective” to put mental and physical health on a par.
Mental health trust budgets for 2013-14 have fallen by 2.3% from 2011-12.
The cuts have meant mental health trusts have been asked to save almost 20% more from next year’s budgets than hospitals.
Budgets for community mental health teams, which give continuing support to patients to prevent their health deteriorating to crisis point,reached a plateau for 2011-12 but referrals rose by 13%.
‘Parity of esteem’
The report also predicted more than £50m a year could be saved if early detection services could be strengthened.
It said the NHS saved £989 every time people were treated with cognitive behavioural therapy instead of going to hospital.
Rethink said mental health accounted for 23% of the disease burden in England but received only 13% of the health budget.
Dr Martin McShane, national director for long-term conditions at NHS England, said the report was “very helpful” and was supportive of what the organisation wanted to achieve.
He said: “We recognise we must work to ensure that in everything we do mental health has parity of esteem with physical health.
“We have significantly invested in improving access to psychological therapies and dementia care.”
Via Bridget via http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26957435
Mike has been found!
Posted: January 31, 2014 Filed under: News | Tags: awareness, campaign, crisis, Documentary, Mike has been found, Rethink Mental Illness, Samaritans, schizophrenia, stigma, suicide Leave a commentSilent Cinema launches at the ORTUS
Posted: January 24, 2014 Filed under: Arts | Tags: "The Soloist", arts, event, films, homeless, Learning Maudsley Centre, Mental Health, mental health themes, ORTUS, schizophrenia, silent cenima Leave a commentCome and join us at the ORTUS for our inaugural Silent Cinema event on Tuesday 28th January 2014 at 6pm. This will be the first in a series which will run on the last Tuesday of every month, when we will show a variety of films, all with underlying mental health themes.
The first film in the series will be “The Soloist”; a 2009 American drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez. The film is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia and became homeless.
Tickets:
Tickets are £5 and cover the cost of a hot drink and a cake from the cafe at the ORTUS. Just don’t forget your headphones!
If you don’t have your own headphones, no problem! We’re selling tickets with headphones for £9.
Spaces are limited and available on a first come first served basis, so you must pre-book. Book here: http://www.maudsleylearning.com/events/events/silent-cinema-the-ortus-the-soloist/
Please make sure you arrive with enough time to grab your drink and cake from the cafe! The film begins at 6pm and the cafe will close at this time.
“People still think that it’s shameful if they have a mental illness. They think it shows personal weakness. They think it shows a failing.”
Posted: January 7, 2014 Filed under: Good practice | Tags: depression, mental disorders, Mental Health, Mental Illness, National Institute for Mental Health, NIHM, schizophrenia, stigma, Stigma and discrimination, substance-abuse disorders, TED Blog 1 CommentHow to end the stigma and talk about mental health: http://on.ted.com/bwg5
Schizophrenia Awareness Week 2013
Posted: November 12, 2013 Filed under: Audio / video / reflections / talks, Resources | Tags: Rethink, schizophrenia, Schizophrenia Awareness Week 2013, South London and Maudsley NHS, Work Foundation Leave a commentSchizophrenia Awareness Week is 11th – 17 November 2013.
Matthew has done video and audio blogs about Schizophrenia; its symptoms, what you can do to raise awareness of it this week and what Rethink and other organisations are doing to help with this illness.
The video is at:
The audio at:
The transcript of these blogs can be downloaded from:
HIP HOP PSYCH Event 21st November
Posted: November 6, 2013 Filed under: Arts, Events | Tags: addiction, arts, Bipolar, culture, denmark hill, events, Hip hop, Hip hop music, HIP HOP PSYCH, Kendrick Lamar, London, Mental Health, Mental Illness, news, personality disorder, psychiatry, Rapping, Recovery, schizophrenia, severe mental illness, therapeutic, Young people 1 CommentHIP HOP PSYCH
21st November 2013, 7pm – 9pm. ORTUS learning & events centre, 82-96 Grove Lane, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8SN
Co-Founded by Dr Akeem Sule & Dr Becky Inkster
“Demystifying mental illness through authentic beats and lyrics”
Hip-hop culture is a powerful vehicle for raising awareness about mental health. It is rich with references to psychiatric illnesses that have not been explored, dissected and documented until now. HIP HOP PSYCH, co-founded by Dr Akeem Sule & Dr Becky Inkster, is the interface that links hip-hop with mental health. Their medical credibility and authentic passion for hip-hop enables them to bridge this gap. They understand the culture, speak the language and want to share their knowledge in order to cultivate awareness and remove stigma surrounding mental health and hip-hop.
Although the lyrics of hip hop music are often associated with swearing, rapping about money and the exploitation of women, there are also rappers whose unfiltered narration goes beyond this by describing the harsh realities of their world and the coping mechanisms employed by some young people. The music can be rich with references, for example, to addiction, psychosis, bipolar disorder and the effects of urbanicity, poor nutrition and destructive parental influences relating to childhood maltreatment in the absence of positive role models.
For this event, HIP HOP PSYCH Co-Founders Dr Akeem Sule & Dr Becky Inkster will be focusing on dissecting and analysing a range of hip hop lyrics from different artists – such as Eminem, Tupac, Kendrick Lamar and J Cole – in order to demystify mental health. In doing this they seek to disarm the boundaries between psychiatry, the humanities and hip-hop culture. Their approach enables them to gain a deeper awareness into gang culture and allows them to get closer to the reality of the daily struggles and risk factors which people with mental health problems face.
The event will also feature a special performance by Key Changes. Key Changes provides music engagement and recovery services for young people and adults experiencing severe mental illnesses including psychosis, schizophrenia, bi polar and personality disorders. Their innovative approach draws on clinical therapeutic techniques and uses culturally relevant music activities and genres.
Twitter: @hiphopsych / Email: hiphopsych@gmail.com
Price: £15 per person. Booking is essential as spaces are limited. CLICK HERE to buy your tickets.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: You must be at least 16 to attend this event.
Impact of mental health service cuts
Posted: October 21, 2013 Filed under: News | Tags: acute adult, BBC, Big Issue, Care in the Community, Community Care investigations, Department of Health, homeless, Hospitals, intensive care units, Mental Health, mental health service cuts, mental health services, news, psychiatric beds, schizophrenia, service user, University of Bath, Wellbeing Leave a commentThe wider implications should be heeded of the sentencing of a homeless man with paranoid schizophrenia for the stabbing to death of two Big Issue sellers (Report, 16 October). As John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, observes, the tragedy is an opportunity to reflect on the impact of cuts to mental health services. I visit mental health facilities on a weekly basis to review the detention of compulsorily detained patients. It has been increasingly apparent for months that patients are being admitted to hospitals hundreds of miles from where they live because of the lack of beds in their own locality.
This impression is now given an evidential basis by the BBC and Community Care investigations which used freedom of information requests to identify that at least 1,711 psychiatric beds have closed since April 2011, most of them in acute adult wards, older people’s wards and psychiatric intensive care units. Not only is admission to facilities far from home detrimental to the wellbeing of patients because of the disruption to their support networks, the increased complexity of setting up and monitoring their care after discharge from hospital in rare cases compromises public safety.
It is an inadequate response by the Department of Health to cite increased numbers of service users being seen in their own homes. Improvements in community care are obviously welcome, but do not obviate the need to provide appropriate hospital care for those who are acutely ill. Depositing people far from their homes is reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting The Ship of Fools and invokes medieval attitudes towards people who are mentally unwell.
Professor emeritus Nick Gould
Department of social and policy sciences, University of Bath
Via http://www.theguardian.com via Matthew
The Brainless Brothers: An audio blog by Matthew McKenzie
Posted: August 4, 2013 Filed under: Arts, Audio / video / reflections / talks | Tags: anxiety, arts, Audio Blog, Bedlem, Bethlem Museum, bethlem royal hospital, bi-polar, depression, event, Exhibition, madness, Manic depression, schizophrenia, SLaM Twig Ops Leave a commentMatthew attended a talk at the Bethlem Royal Hospital on Saturday 3rd August 2013.
It was a free talk on Cibber’s statues of ‘Raving’ and ‘Melancholy Madness’, and this summer is also the last chance to see the statues before they go out on loan.
They are going to journey across the Channel on long-term loan in September, returning for the opening of the new Museum of the Mind in the autumn.
Matthew’s blog is great to listen to – you almost feel like you are there seeing the statues for yourself. Worth a listen!
Would you like to take part in a group discussion about genetic testing and clozapine? Final Call
Posted: July 9, 2013 Filed under: Opportunities - Paid | Tags: Brixton, Clozapine, Focus Group, genetics, Institute of Psychiatry, Medication, Opportunities, opportunities paid, Psychosis, Research Project, schizophrenia, side effects Leave a commentMy name is Ben Spencer and I am a psychiatry registrar at the Institute of Psychiatry working on a research project that is looking into people’s views of genetic testing in clozapine.
Schizophrenia is a common illness that can affect how people tolerate stress, and their experience of the world. Some people who have schizophrenia do not get better on standard medication, and treatment with clozapine is offered. Clozapine can affect the immune system and so people who take it have to have regular blood tests, and sometimes get side effects.
At the moment, researchers are looking into whether it might be possible to use a genetic test to predict if people with schizophrenia would benefit from clozapine, or would get side effects. This research may mean that people would have to have blood tests less often when they are treated with clozapine.
No one has looked into people’s views on this, and I am keen to find out what people think. To do this I have written a questionnaire about it to give to people. I need to find out though if it’s asking the questions that service users think are important.
I am looking for people who have experience of mental health services, and who would like to look at a questionnaire we have written to find out about people’s views and attend a focus group discussion on it. Ideally if you have knowledge or experience of clozapine or psychosis.
If you wanted to take part I would send you an information sheet about the study, and a copy of the questionnaire for you to complete in your own time. I would also send you a feedback form so you can write about your experiences of it.
Then I would invite you to come along to a focus group to discuss with other similar people you thoughts on the questionnaire itself (is it too long, short, too simple). Also at this group we would discuss the research itself and the issues or questions you think we should be asking.
You would be given your travel costs (up to a maximum of £10) to attend the focus group, and a £10 Marks and Spencer’s gift voucher for your involvement.
Please note the focus group session will take place on Thursday 25/07/2013 in Brixton.
Please get in touch if you are interested in being involved in this project by emailing : clozapineandgenes@gmail.com with your name, phone number, and address to post the study information to.
The deadline to respond by is Wednesday 10/07/2013.
SLaM’s mother and baby unit praised
Posted: June 28, 2013 Filed under: Good practice, News | Tags: bethlem royal hospital, CBT, Cognitive analytic therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, dance therapy, depression, Eating Disorders, Good practice, life skills, Medication, mother and baby unit, news, OCD, post birth, postpartum psychosis, pregnancy, Psychosis, schizophrenia Leave a commentThe specialist Mother and Baby Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital has been recognised as providing an example of “best practice” in caring for women suffering with severe mental illness during pregnancy or post-birth.
An NSPCC report released last week suggests the wellbeing of more than one in 10 newborn babies in England could be improved if all new mothers with mental illness had equal access to good services.
The report states there is evidence to show that the work carried out at the Channi Kumar Mother and Baby Unit, part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, leads to significant improvements in mental state in approximately three quarters of women, in the sensitivity of mothers with schizophrenia and postpartum psychosis when interacting with their babies and major improvements in the interaction of the babies of mothers with schizophrenia, psychosis and depression.
The 13-bed unit was set up for women who develop or have a relapse of serious mental illness during pregnancy or following the birth of their baby. The unit offers a wide range of treatment, therapy and care which is not offered on the same scale in any other unit in the UK.
One unique factor is the work of a developmental psychologist who works closely with the mothers and infants.
Dr Susan Pawlby works clinically as a developmental psychologist at the unit and academically at the King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry.
She said: “I think our unit stands out because we have a developmental psychologist to work with nursery nurses and nurses on the ward and most other units do not have that.
“It means we can give mothers and infants more support in forming and maintaining this early and most fundamental relationship. We have developed video feedback interventions so that mothers can see how their babies respond to them. Together we watch video clips of play sessions, talk about the communication between the mother and her baby in order to help mothers develop their relationship with their baby.
“We systematically evaluate this intervention and see how effective it is. Our work is to encourage mothers to respond to their babies’ cues, so that mothers become more sensitive and babies more co-operative in their interaction with one another. I am delighted our work has been recognised by the NSPCC.”
Alongside this support, the Mother and Baby Unit also treats mothers with medication where needed. The unit also offers various forms of therapy (psychological, art psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and cognitive analytical therapy), life skills, health skills, leisure activities, baby massage and dance therapy.
Following the release of the report the NSPCC is calling on health ministers to lead a drive to address major gaps in access to mental health services for pregnant and new mums.
Mental health problems including depression, anxiety, postpartum psychosis, obsessive compulsive disorders, eating disorders , schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorderand personality disorder can begin or escalate when a woman is pregnant or in her infant’s first year. They can have a damaging effect on family life, and in the worst cases, impact on babies’ health and welfare.
Evidence shows that the vast majority of these illnesses are preventable and treatable, and with the right support, the negative effects on families can be avoided.
Sally Hogg, author of the NSPCC report, said: “The Mother and Baby Unit at Royal Bethlem Hospital provides excellent support for mothers suffering from perinatal mental illnesses and their babies. They do fantastic work to help mums to care for and bond with their babies, which helps ensure these children have the best possible start in life.
“It is crucial that more units like this are made available across the country for all families who need them, as without access to specialist units such as this some mothers don’t get the right help and can be separated from their babies, which is traumatic for the whole family.”
For more information on the NSPCC report:
Read Susan’s story here
#RT via Bridget via http://www.slam.nhs.uk
It’s A Mad World
Posted: June 28, 2013 Filed under: News | Tags: BBC, Don't call me crazy, Eating Disorders, family and carers, it's a mad world, OCD, schizophrenia, self harm Leave a commentDon’t Call Me Crazy launches It’s A Mad World – a season of films on BBC Three looking at a range of mental health issues affecting young people in Britain today, from schizophrenia, OCD, eating disorders and self-harming to dealing with family members affected by mental illness.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01b86w5
#RT via Bridget
Would you like to take part in a group discussion about genetic testing and clozapine?
Posted: June 6, 2013 Filed under: Opportunities - Paid | Tags: Brixton, Clozapine, Focus Group, genetics, Institute of Psychiatry, Medication, Opportunities, opportunities paid, Psychosis, Research Project, schizophrenia, side effects Leave a commentMy name is Ben Spencer and I am a psychiatry registrar at the Institute of Psychiatry working on a research project that is looking into people’s views of genetic testing in clozapine.
Schizophrenia is a common illness that can affect how people tolerate stress, and their experience of the world. Some people who have schizophrenia do not get better on standard medication, and treatment with clozapine is offered. Clozapine can affect the immune system and so people who take it have to have regular blood tests, and sometimes get side effects.
At the moment, researchers are looking into whether it might be possible to use a genetic test to predict if people with schizophrenia would benefit from clozapine, or would get side effects. This research may mean that people would have to have blood tests less often when they are treated with clozapine.
No one has looked into people’s views on this, and I am keen to find out what people think. To do this I have written a questionnaire about it to give to people. I need to find out though if it’s asking the questions that service users think are important.
I am looking for people who have experience of mental health services, and who would like to look at a questionnaire we have written to find out about people’s views and attend a focus group discussion on it. Ideally if you have knowledge or experience of clozapine or psychosis.
If you wanted to take part I would send you an information sheet about the study, and a copy of the questionnaire for you to complete in your own time. I would also send you a feedback form so you can write about your experiences of it.
Then I would invite you to come along to a focus group to discuss with other similar people you thoughts on the questionnaire itself (is it too long, short, too simple). Also at this group we would discuss the research itself and the issues or questions you think we should be asking.
You would be given your travel costs (up to a maximum of £10) to attend the focus group, and a £10 Marks and Spencer’s gift voucher for your involvement.
Please note the focus group session will take place on Thursday 25/07/2013 in Brixton.
Please get in touch if you are interested in being involved in this project by emailing : clozapineandgenes@gmail.com with your name, phone number, and address to post the study information to.
The deadline to respond by is Wednesday 10/07/2013.