Forgotten? Mental Health Care and Treatment During the Coronavirus Pandemic (March 2021)
This report summarises key findings from a longitudinal research project undertaken by Jacki Gordon on behalf of SAMH. Over 1,000 people took part in the research, through three surveys which ran in August, October and November 2020, and a series of 15 interviews which took place between August and December.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit people with pre-existing mental health problems hard. Systemic changes to the delivery of mental health care and treatment, particularly the move away from face-to-face support, have resulted in increased feelings of mental ill health and affected people’s ability to cope. Over half (56%) of participants in our final survey in November felt their mental health had worsened recently, compared with the start of the pandemic.
Yet they could not rely on getting the support required: while the majority (64%) of participants tried to speak to their GP about their mental health during the pandemic, 1 in 10 (13%) were unsuccessful. And over a quarter (27%) of respondents to the final survey said their specialist treatment or care had stopped entirely because of the pandemic.
