Blackpool ranks among top in UK for investment in mental health counselling

The resort ranked fourth in a recent study, by healthcare business Supplement Place, looking at mental health services across the country.

Some £3,853,000 was spent on counselling and psychology services for people aged 18 to 64 in Blackpool last year, and £2,947,000 was spent on people aged 65 and above, resulting in an average of £49.19 per person.

The only places to rank above Blackpool in this area were Wirrall, with a total expenditure of £17,148,000, Leicester with a total of £19,873,000, and Bristol with a total of £26,963,000.

The town did not rank in the top 20, however, for easy access to psychologists. Oxford, Cambridge, Bath and York topped the charts for numbers of psychologists per 100,000 people.

The Fylde Coast Clinical Commissioning Group, which oversees healthcare in Blackpool, said the overall budget for mental health goes far beyond paying for one to one counselling, including group therapy, peer support, social groups and other things that do not require the involvement of a clinical psychologist.

A spokesman said: “We continue to invest heavily in mental health services in line with the ambitions described in the NHS Long Term Plan including expanding the mental health workforce within our Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, strengthening mental health crisis and community provision and working with partners to provide additional schemes to promote access to mental health support during the pandemic.

“We are working with partners to redesign our support for people with mental health needs in the community. We recognise that we need a variety of interventions to enable good mental health and to address the health inequalities experienced by many people living with mental health conditions. This will include interventions such as peer support, financial and employment support alongside the more traditional interventions such as medication and therapy.”

Dr Arif Rajpura, Blackpool Council Director of Public Health said: “The overall spend on mental healthcare and provision of services is delivered through CCGs who commission mental healthcare services through funding from the government.

“The CCGs commissioning of mental health provision although it does include psychological therapists encompasses so much more in terms of engaging and working with professionals in many fields and supporting charitable organisations.

“Despite the huge pressures on budgets as a council we also develop and commission additional support resources to address potential and existing mental issues and work

closely with the CCG’s to co-ordinate all our work as much as possible.

“Council initiatives to improve wellbeing include digital inclusion projects, mental health provision through our drug and alcohol treatment service, mental health outreach for young

people and the Get VOCAL campaign which saw Blackpool Council partner with Blackpool Football Club to reach out to people and encourage residents to look after their mental health.”

According to the new report, 42 per cent of people in the UK seeking counselling wait up to three months for an initial appointment, and ten per cent wait as long as one to two years.

For a second appointment, 64 per cent wait more than four weeks, 23 per cent wait more than three months, and 11 per cent wait longer than six months.

Jenny Okolo, an NHS occupational therapist, said: "It’s no secret that several NHS services have been put under increased pressure, and mental health services have also taken the brunt of it. The report is an indicator that very few cities and towns in the UK have greater access to mental health support compared to others. Furthermore, councils may have a bigger budget than others.

"Waiting times for mental health support have increased over the years... 42 per cent of people are required to wait up to three months before receiving an appointment for an initial assessment, some for about two years! Similarly, with second appointments, it shows that the majority wait more than four weeks. The data shows that whilst mental health support is in dire need, the support available and the timeframe just doesn’t add up and people can be left faced making the excruciating decision of seeking private counselling which can range from cheaper to more expensive fees.

"Either way, the consensus of this report suggests that there is still a massive disparity of mental health support and resources between all the cities in the UK. For example, 50 chartered psychologists per 100,000 people are not nearly enough to adequately care for enough people with mental health needs.”