Mental health: at what cost?

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In their debut Mental Elf blog, Martin Knapp and Gloria Wong summarise a systematic review of cost-of-illness studies, which explores the distribution of the costs between different mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.

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Cost-effective strategies for mental health workplace intervention

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Chris Sampson summarises a review on the cost-effectiveness of mental health workplace interventions, which presents up-to-date evidence on the different things that employers can do to help those in their workforce affected by mental health problems or substance misuse.

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Global pandemic: how do teenagers and families feel?

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Dafni Katsampa reflects on a new piece of qualitative research led by a 15 year old researcher, which focuses on teenagers’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents a set of recommendations for parents and families that cover mental wellbeing, the importance of routine, exercise and screen time.

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The case for investing in anxiety and depression treatment on a global scale

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Chris Sampson looks at a major new economic study into the return on investment of increased coverage for anxiety and depression treatment.

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Stratify, specialise, standardise, analyse: maximising quality and efficiency in elective care

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Our resident Elf Economist Chris Sampson summarises a recent report from Monitor (England’s health services regulator), which looks at how NHS providers can improve productivity in elective care.

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Searching for the cost of bipolar disorder

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Bipolar disorder is associated with high economic costs…or is it? Chris Sampson reports on a new systematic review, which highlights limitations in our understanding.

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“Financial crisis provides a window of opportunity and stimulus for reform” says a Health Foundation report

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This is a summary of an evidence scan produced by The Health Foundation about lessons the NHS can learn from other countries about managing financial crisis.

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CBT in primary care is cost-effective for treatment-resistant depression

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Elf economist Chris Sampson reports on the economic evaluation of the CoBalT RCT, which finds that CBT is cost-effective for treatment resistant depression in primary care.

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CBT is more cost-effective than SSRI alone as treatment for panic disorder

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In addition to its impact on quality of life, panic disorder can have a number of costly consequences such as lost productivity – particularly if also associated with agoraphobia. Cost-effectiveness is therefore an important consideration in choosing the optimal treatment for panic disorder, which might improve value via the cost side of the equation. A recent [read the full story…]

“To fulfil its constitution, the NHS must continue to provide a comprehensive, excellent service, available to all”, says report

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The NHS faces an increasing funding gap and a conflict between supply and demand. The constitution says that the NHS must provide a high quality service for everyone. However, the population is growing, and people are living longer, so how can the NHS continue to do more with less? Monitor believes that getting better “health [read the full story…]