Mentally ill ‘die earlier due to NHS failures’ People with mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities are dying earlier as a result of a failure to address their needs by the NHS, the doctors’ union has warned. Urgent action is needed to ensure equal value is placed on both patients’ mental and physical health in the face of “distressing” evidence about the life expectancy of the mentally ill and people with learning disabilities, a report by the British Medical Association (BMA) board of science has said. The physical health problems of patients with a mental illness or intellectual disability are “all too often” under-addressed, the report said, while the mental health of patients with a physical illness is frequently neglected. Cuts to funding – which have seen 1,711 mental health beds closed since April 2011 while therapy sessions for those with a mental illness are limited to just 20 on the NHS – have compounded the disparity, the report said. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mentally-ill-die-earlier-due-to-nhs-failures-9324858.html
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 06:58:04 +0000
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