Via The Guardian: Calls for mental health help double in Manchester under Covid restrictions. Excerpt:
Calls to police and specialist services about mental health have almost doubled in Manchester while people have been isolated at home, prompting the leader of the city council to call for a more balanced and proportionate approach to lockdown.
Sir Richard Leese, who heads Manchester city council and is also deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, said the government needed a new strategy to tackle outbreaks which “brings into play mental health and other health risks including those caused by poverty and economic inactivity, and one that allows the economy to fully function”.
Greater Manchester has one of the highest Covid-19 infection rates in the UK. Calls to three crisis helplines set up in response to the pandemic have increased significantly in the last few months. The Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation’s helpline received 2,168 calls in July compared with 1,187 in April.
Greater Manchester police (GMP) said they too had experienced a significant increase in “mental health demand”. Ch Supt Umer Khan said: “We are grateful to the majority of people within Greater Manchester who have followed guidelines to help reduce the spread of Covid-19, however these restrictions have had an impact on many people’s mental health, both those with pre-existing conditions and those who have not struggled with their mental health before.
“Police officers are often the first point of contact for people going through a mental health crisis. Since February 2020 we have seen a 42% increase in mental health demand coming into GMP. It is important that these people have immediate access to the right help and support.
“GMP has worked with partners to train thousands of officers in how to deal with people with various mental health conditions and help direct individuals to the support they need.”
Manchester recorded 47.3 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the week of 10-16 August, the seventh-highest infection rate in England. Nearby Oldham had more than double that rate, with 103.1 cases per 100,000 in the same time period.
Leese said very few people were dying of Covid in the region, but “presentations of people with mental health issues … have soared, as has the number of people suffering from the state of the economy”.
