NHS could save £15 for every £1 invested in mental health early intervention

Early intervention for mental health patients creates huge long term cost savings for the NHS and improves the lives of people struggling with illnesses such as schizophrenia and psychosis.

The long term economic benefits of using community services such as Peer Support and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been raised by Rethink Mental Illness. The mental health charity has claimed the NHS could save £15 for every £1 invested in early intervention over a ten year period.

Rethink Mental Illness is presenting its findings at the first National Psychosis Summit which is being held to solve problems preventing high quality services from reaching people with mental health issues.

Victoria Bleazard, associate director of campaigns and policy for Rethink Mental Illness said: “The earlier we can detect and treat schizophrenia and psychosis, the better the chances are of recovery for the individual and the cheaper it is for the system in the long term.

We’ve seen this shift in other areas of medicine such as cancer treatment, where swift, early treatment is a priority. We need to see the same change in emphasis for people with schizophrenia and psychosis.”

NHS leaders and ministers from across England have been shown these findings as part of an economic report ‘Investing in Recovery’ which argues spending is too high on in-patient care, with 54 per cent of the £2bn 2012/13 psychosis budget spent on this form of hospital based service.

With hospital admissions costing £350 per day compared to £13 for a day of community treatments, Rethink Mental Illness has called for more money to be invested in early intervention schemes and claimed they will create long term financial benefits for the NHS.

Ms Bleazard said: “Mental health is chronically underfunded. It accounts for 23 per cent of the disease burden in England, but gets just 13 per cent of the budget.

“Not only do we want to see mental health getting a fairer share of the budget, but we also need to make sure that the money that is available is spent as efficiently as possible. In this climate, it makes no sense to cut mental health services which generate cost-savings and save lives. Short-term cuts only store up bigger costs for the future.”

The economic report detailed evidence of the cost effectiveness of recovery-related interventions such as Family Therapy, Welfare Advice and Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment teams (CRHT).

These forms of intervention prevent or delay the chance of a person relapsing, improve their general wellbeing and could lead to a reduction in the need for more expensive care such as hospitalisation.

Martin Knapp, report author and director of the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics, said: “Much needs to be done to improve the lives of people with schizophrenia and psychosis. At the same time – as our report shows – there is also much that can be done to improve NHS efficiency, and even for some interventions to generate savings.”