Health Secretary claims mental illnesses are being ‘overdiagnosed’ by doctors

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has claimed doctors are ‘overdiagnosing’ mental health conditions days after the government announced benefits cuts.

Mr Streeting made the claim as he appeared on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, saying too many people are being ‘written off’ when they could potentially return to work.

But Brian Dow, deputy chief executive of the Rethink Mental Illness charity, said many with long-term mental health issues face a ‘tremendous struggle’ to get a diagnosis and treatment in the first place.

He told Metro: ‘The crisis in the nation’s mental health is very real, but no one is in receipt of welfare benefits for a mental health condition who has not been diagnosed by an experienced health care professional.’

On Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to announce reforms to benefits to cut the country’s ‘unsustainable’ welfare bill.

Speculation has mounted that personal independence payments (PIP) could be frozen instead of rising in line with inflation, which would result in a real-terms cut for the 3.6million people who claim it.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said too many people are being written off (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire)

Asked about this speculation, Mr Streeting said to ‘wait for the plans’ to be announced next week, adding he is sure Ms Kendall ‘wants to support people who need help the most’.

Mr Streeting also said he believes there is an ‘overdiagnosis’ of mental health conditions leading to ‘too many people being written off’ as unable to work.

He said: ‘I want to follow the evidence and I agree with that point about overdiagnosis.

‘Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis but there’s too many people being written off and, to your point about treatment, too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need.

‘So if you can get that support to people much earlier, then you can help people to either stay in work or get back to work.

‘And that’s why we’re recruiting 8,500 more mental health staff to make sure we can get the waiting list down, and also starting early, so making sure we’ve got mental health support in every primary and secondary school in the country so we can give people that resilience and those coping skills they need in life.’

Campaigners have urged the government not to cut PIP, saying it would only serve to push disabled people into poverty. One claimant with MS told the MS Society the prospect of cuts ‘scares the hell out of me’.

They added: ‘Even with my husband’s income and my PIP payments, our finances just disappear each month.’

Liz Kendall is expected to announce benefit reforms next week (Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)

The SNP said PM Keir Starmer should ‘apologise’ to disabled people for ‘allowing damaging speculation to run wild’ about the party’s benefit plans.

Kirsty Blackman, the party’s work and pensions spokeswoman, said any planned cuts to disability payments should be ‘abandoned’ and she accused Labour of ‘deliberately fuelling speculation’ in the media about its intentions.

Mr Streeting’s comments have been met with criticism, with fellow Labour MP Diane Abbott saying: ‘Streeting talking about “overdiagnosis” of mental health illness is a clue that government plans to scrap the welfare payments of very many of the mentally ill.’

The news comes following further announcements that Labour will scrap NHS England to ‘reduce bureaucracy’ within the health service.

Today he acknowledged that thousands of people could lose their jobs, and said he was ‘deeply sorry’ that many people would be feeling ‘deeply anxious’ about their futures.

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