Rise in working-aged people hospitalised for stress
The number of people in England being sent to hospital for stress is increasing, with admission rates highest among working-aged people.
Provisional figures released last week by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show that hospitals in England dealt with 6370 admissions for stress – the feeling of being under too much emotional or mental pressure – in the 12 months to May this year. This represents a 7-per-cent rise on the previous 12-month period, during which 5960 admissions were registered. Since the recession in 2008, there has been a 47-per-cent increase in admissions on account of stress.
Stress admissions rose at a faster rate than admissions overall, which increased by about 2 per cent in the same period. The North West Strategic Health Authority registered the highest admission rate of any of England’s 10 SHAs, with 1390 admissions; the South West SHA had the lowest rate, with only 350 people requiring treatment.
The HSCIC also noted that admissions for anxiety (the feeling of mild or severe unease, such as worry and fear) fell by almost 3 per cent in the 12 months to May, with the majority of admissions among the elderly.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, described the figures as “alarming”. He said: “Sustained periods of stress, anxiety and depression can lead to an increased risk of diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease. So what can we do in this time of austerity to reduce the impact of debt on the nation’s mental health?
“Admitting people to hospital for stress is usually an expensive solution to a problem that should have been solved earlier in a primary-care or workplace setting. We must invest in less costly, more effective early-intervention services for people experiencing such stress, instead of waiting for people’s distress and symptoms to require a hospital admission.”
In separate news, researchers in the UK have found that people who have highly-demanding jobs and little freedom to make decisions are 23-per-cent more likely to experience a heart attack compared with people who are not exposed to work strain. However, the risk to the heart associated with job strain is much smaller than the risk from smoking, or failing to exercise.
