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NHS warned to brace for ‘rising tide’ of patients needing mental-health support

THE NHS should brace itself for a rising tide of patients in need of mental-health support as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, health leaders warned today.

But the NHS Confederation said there were “constraints” in what the service can deliver.

It warned that people requiring support and treatment are at risk of not getting the care they need and their conditions deteriorating.

The confederation said that while the peak of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital came earlier this year, the peak in demand for mental-health care was “yet to come.”

Mental-health bodies need “intensive support and investment” to prepare for it, it said.

The report says that many providers are already seeing higher numbers of patients than before the pandemic.

The Centre for Mental Health has estimated that an additional 500,000 people will require support for their mental health in the next two years.

But this comes as many have been forced to reduce the number of patients they can treat because of infection-control procedures and social-distancing measures.

Royal College of Psychiatrists dean Dr Kate Lovett said: “We are already starting to see the significant impact of Covid-19 on mental health with people presenting in crisis.

“Mental-health services were already seriously stretched before the pandemic and there is a risk of people slipping through the cracks unless we see urgent and increased investment."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “We recognise the impact this pandemic has had on people’s mental health and we will continue to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental-health impacts."

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