Wes Streting comments that there is a “overdiagnosis” of certain mental health conditions has prompted experts to warn to stigmatize and punish people.
The Secretary of Health also said that too many people were “struck off” because he was asked about the government’s well-being measures. Addressing broadcasters, street was placed on the fact that ministers left uninformed disabled people for too long – and if they paid payment of personal independence (PIP) as part of their social protection package this week.
Street did not deny that the government had abandoned the plans of freezing pip after a major reaction of Work MPS this week. We expect that there are significant changes to PIP, including the payment of disability – which does not depend on the work – more difficult to claim, as well as the modifications made to those who are too sick or disabled.
When he was asked if he thought that the overdiagnosis of certain conditions was a problem, he told BBC One on Sunday with Laura Kuensberg: “I want to follow the evidence and I agree with this point on the overdiagnosis.
“Here is the other thing: mental well-being, illness is a spectrum and I think there is definitely an overdiagnosis, but there are too many people who are radiated and, from your point of view, too many people who simply do not obtain the support they need. So if you can get this support for people much earlier, you can help people stay at work or go back to work. »»
MININE PATEL, Associate Director of Policy and Campaigns of the C charitable, said that Streting was right to say that not enough people were supporting and advised to stigmatize people with mental health problems.
He said, “The demand for benefits is not an easy process. People with a mental health problem must go through a long and arduous evaluation process, with decisions not to allocate support often reversed at the appeal stage. We must also be extremely cautious with language concerning mental health diagnostics, which is likely to create a climate of stigma of real experiences of people and to undermine the opinions of health professionals. »»
Robert Howard, professor of old age psychiatry at the University College of London, said that “punishing” people would not put them back to work.
He said: “I am really impatient that the type of language that Wes Street uses this morning is used to justify additional disinvestment in mental health services.
“If we want to bring people with mental illness to work, the way of doing so is to ensure that they can access a timely and effective treatment, and claim that they have no real illness, that simply does not make me encourage that the government will invest in mental health services enough to help people come back.
“There are so many young people with a kind of chronic generalized anxiety that cannot work. The way to bring them back to work is not to make them ashamed and punish them and tell them that they are not sick. The way to bring them back to work is to ensure that they have access to psychological therapy and appropriate treatment so that they can be in shape and return to work. »»
The Guardian reported on Friday that the ministers had threatened to resign On any potential gel in PIP, which would require a vote in Parliament. But there remains a general concern on the part of labor deputies on the way in which the criteria of claiming that the payment of disabilities will be and the changes in employment and the support allowance, which cover those who cannot work.
“I haven’t seen the full plans, they haven’t come to the office yet,” said Streting. “But what I know is the secretary of work and pensions wants to support people who need the most help and we must make sure that there is a wider range of support, and that everyone plays their role, including me, because with these levels of illness, for example, if I can help people return to health, in many cases, I will help them come back to work and what we can do.
“I have not seen the proposals but you saw the briefing, you have seen speculation, I think that the moral of the story is to wait for the plans.”
Streetting said he had not come to politics to take the most vulnerable money in society, but that there was still a need for reform. “We want to support people who are the poorest and most vulnerable to ensure that they have dignity, independence and high quality of life,” he said.
“Without this support for an active state, I would not be here to speak to you. The challenge we have (is) that we have one in eight young people in this country and not in education, employment or training. We have one in 10 people who do not come out of work, and 3 million people who have been excluded from the labor market due to long -term diseases.
“Now, of course, there will be people due to a serious handicap or chronic disease that cannot be returned, will not be able to work and these people must be supported. But the welfare state must also be a springboard at work and many people are struck off, you know, as if they could not contribute when they can and should and wish. “”