Who cares?
by Bryan Woods
There are many challenges facing those who care for someone with enduring mental illness. These often take over family life completely – to the detriment of other siblings.
Long-term mental illnesses often arise in adulthood. They include bipolar disorder, severe depression, psychosis, and schizophrenia. These mental illnesses can be triggered by major life factors such as bereavement, chronic physical illness, trauma, or the use of recreational drugs or alcohol.
Enduring mental illnesses affect people severely. Everyday tasks become challenging, to the point of becoming impossible. Anyone who has suffered from severe depression, for example, will know that even having a wash or cleaning one’s teeth feels like a mountain to climb – never mind doing anything else.
It often falls to a parent or relative to take care of an adult who has a long-term mental illness. This involves many tasks including cooking, cleaning, shopping, and doing laundry.
Even if the person lives alone, they often exist in a state of chaos and confusion. They are also often isolated and lonely – further exacerbating their mental ill-health. Added to this can be the side effects from anti-psychotic medication. These can include weight gain, restlessness, slowing down, and losing interest in life – losing their spark.
It’s a considerable challenge just to care for someone who has enduring mental illness. But added to this is the question that is uppermost in any parent/carers mind: ‘Who will look after my loved one when I am no longer able to, or I have passed away?‘ This all takes a terrible toll on the mental health of the parent/carer.
The NHS England website states, under Community Mental Health Services: “By 2023/24, at least 370,000 adults and older adults per year nationally will have greater choice and control over their care, to live well in their communities.“
It goes on to say that; “This ambition is supported by an additional £1 billion new Long Term Plan funding per year by 2023/24, to ultimately transform the provision of community mental health care for adults and older adults with severe mental illnesses.“
Sounds great doesn’t it? But fast forward a few years to a recent analysis from the mental health charity, Mind. This has found that; “ … the share of NHS spend going to mental health services is set to fall for the third year in a row.“ The proportion of NHS spending on mental health services has fallen year-on-year from 9% in 2023/24, to 8.4% in 2026/27.
This is a pitiful amount. Little wonder that mental health services are broken and failing us all.
People who care for the long-term mentally ill save the government billions of pounds each year. Yet it seems they have been abandoned. Even the support they are supposed to receive from Community Mental Health Teams is woefully inadequate. This again is due to cuts in funding, together with a shortage of properly trained staff.
It’s astonishing that this seems to be a ‘silent‘ crisis that has been quietly swept under the carpet. Perhaps this is because it’s so misunderstood by those who don’t actually live with it in their family.
In any event, we have to ask the question – who cares? Nobody much it seems.