Treble mental health research
funding
Trebling investment in mental health research
will change lives, and save the UK significant money.
Mental Health represents 15 percent of the UK’s overall disease
burden[2] but recent
figures have shown that it receives only 6.5% of total research
funding. This simply doesn't reflect the impact of mental
ill-health on our lives and society.
Mental health research funding must at least
treble to match this impact. We therefore support the
call by Research
Mental Health for funding to rise to £200 million a year
within the next 5 years.
The burden of mental illness in the UK
- Of the 280 million consultations with a general practitioner,
30% are related to mental health. [1]
- 3 in 10 people have sick leave from work related to their
mental health in any one year[2]
- 91 million working days are lost due to mental ill-health.
[3]
- 1 million people on long term sick-leave due to mental illness,
and of those on sick-leave for more than 1 year, less than 5%
return to work.[4]
- the cost to the economy of mental ill-health is of the order of
£77bn per annum. [4]
Research into mental health in the
UK
The proportion of funding directed into mental
health research does not reflect the number of people affected by
mental illness.
- In 2004-2005, approximately £60 million was spent on mental
health research by the 11 largest government and charity funders of
health research.[5]
- Recent figures show that mental health research received 6.5%
of total research funding compared with 25% for research of cancer
and 15% for neurological diseases. Figures which are
disproportionate to the number of people affected.
[4]
- Historically, unlike many other common diseases, there has been
no disease-specific charity in the UK focused on funding research
into mental disorders. However, a recent important step has
been the creation of Mental Health Research
UK, the first charity set up to fund research into mental
illness. As medical research charities contribute approximately one
third of all public expenditure on medical and health research in
the UK – almost £1 billion in 2008-09[6] - charity funding
of research can have a considerable impact on the quantity and
quality of research conducted.
The need for more research
An analysis conducted by the UK Clinical
Research Collaboration (UKCRC) in 2006 of the largest government
and charity organisations funding health research in the UK[7] shows
that most research is currently focused on understanding the causes
and risk factors associated with mental health issues.
Further resources
Royal College of General
Practitioners (2006) Key
Demographic Statistics from Uk General Practice: July 2006.
RCOGP