This is a report by the King’s Fund Centre for Mental Health from 2012.[1]
Many people with long-term physical health conditions also have mental health problems. These lead to significantly poorer health outcomes and reduced quality of life. Costs to the health care system are significant – by interacting with and exacerbating physical illness, co-morbid mental health problems raise total health care costs by at least 45 per cent for each person with a long-term condition and co-morbid mental health problem. Between 12 per cent and 18 per cent of all NHS expenditure on long-term conditions is linked to poor mental health and wellbeing – between £8 billion and £13 billion in England each year. This is at least £1 in every £8 spent on long-term conditions. Clinical commissioning groups should prioritise integrating mental and physical health care more closely to improve quality and productivity in health care.
1 Naylor C, Parsonage M, McDaid D, et al. Long-term conditions and mental health: The cost of co-morbidities. 2012;:1–32.
