Mental Health Awareness For The Government!

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I’m very concerned by what appears to be a complete lack of understanding on Rishi and his pals’ part. I understand that they want to tackle this but branding the populous as having a “Fit Note Culture” and taking the stick rather than the carrot approach is not the way forward.

They need to look at the root cause of the problem before wading in clumsily. Long term sickness absence has risen steadily since 2019; this coincides with the advent of covid. We all know that the pandemic was handled atrociously, for example:

• not closing the borders in a timely fashion
• PPE “blunders”
• investing in Nigthingale Hospitals then not using them
• letting vulnerable people in care homes get infected and die
• not implementing lockdown early enough or enforcing it for long enough
• Eat Out To Help Out – the brainchild of Mr Sunak himself
• parties at Number 10 (complete with ambushing cake)

This list goes on, ironically the majority of these failures were motivated by short-sighted attempts to maintain the health of the economy and save money at the expense of the population’s immediate welfare. It didn’t work at the time and has had a long lasting negative impact on economic activity. The current situation is a direct result of the poor handling of the pandemic, prioritising money over life and welfare. Is it any wonder that the nation is struggling with poor mental health as well as physical health in the aftermath?

The Facts

If the pandemic had been managed properly, there might be fewer people suffering from long-covid now, this is especially true for those who had underlying conditions before they contracted covid. There was a lot of confusion about who was classed as clinically extremely vulnerable and who wasn’t. (I wasn’t given a letter but had cancer. I contacted the GP surgery who said I should have been included… Some people may not have asked…) Then the classifications changed, leaving those who were at risk originally feeling utterly bewildered.

It is sad that Mr Sunak and his advisors thinks that this economic inactivity can be reversed by making it harder to obtain a fit note and not by addressing the more obvious issues.

The NHS Is On Its Knees & Needs Some TLC

Mental Health: Symptoms & Causes

Depression and anxiety need to be understood by the powers that be, they are not just feeling fed up for a few days or being a bit nervous, they can be debilitating.

Symptoms of depression can include sleep problems, the inability to get out of bed, complete despondency, physical pain and much more. Anxiety can manifest itself in panic attacks which can include hyperventilation and being physically sick. Waiting times for mental health services have increased since the pandemic.

This isn’t a coincidence – the trauma of not being able to hold loved one’s hands as they passed away or go to their funerals will stay with people forever. The grueling situation of coming close to death yourself then pulling through. The worry related to this and/or relatives being in a similar position. The tragedy of people who had covid being discharged into care homes and infecting other residents. Not being able to socialise with friends and family meant some people were completely isolated, made worse if they had no outside space of their own to enjoy nature in. Not to forget the valiant NHS staff and carers who battled the virus on the frontline; putting themselves in harm’s way and bearing witness to some truly terrible things. Things I doubt most of us would be able to imagine.

Anxiety and depression could be linked to having treatments delayed and operations cancelled. Smaller things like constantly having to go into battle with GPs to get covid boosters or other treatments/preventions that you are entitled to only exacerbates the feelings. (Again, another false economy for the NHS, people who need boosters should be offered boosters, especially younger dementia patients. Hospital and then post-infection care costs the NHS more money than a jab does.)

A Second Opinion

I think that playing mental health down is an insult to medical professionals and patients alike. No doctor would sign people off willy-nilly or give them medication if they didn’t need it. Being ill is hard enough without having more medical admin hoops to jump through just to satisfy Rishi. It also puts extra pressure on the NHS by further increasing workload for worn out staff. Increasing it in a way that won’t boost productivity, benefit patients or reduce waiting times for treatment.

This (I hope unintentional) ableism is an issue that needs addressing; forcing people who aren’t ready, back to work early is misguided at best. It amplifies rather than quells the mistakes made in the pandemic. The fundamental issue is NHS funding and staffing (cutting the duration of medical degrees by a year is only going to have adverse repercussions and I can’t pretend to understand the point of physician associates).

If people could get the treatment they need in a timely manner, they would be getting back to work faster. It’s that simple.

There are other ways of getting people back to work and some of the responsibility lies with employers, but that is a subject for another day.

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