The decision not to include the matter in public hearings later this year means the issue may not be properly considered until 2025. This is unlikely to be included in modules focusing on vaccines, procurement, testing and tracing, which are already planned for the first half of next year. .
Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind, said important questions about the impact on mental health during the pandemic remained unanswered.
“The voices of millions of people who have suffered and continue to suffer from the mental health effects of the pandemic will not be heard,” she added.
“We have come so far in recent years to put mental health on equal footing with physical health, but that is not reflected in the approach to research. This means that important questions remain unanswered, such as: Were there no health plans? Why did psychiatric hospitals empty at the same time as community care closed? And more. There are so many questions and stories to tell.”
She added that the decision goes against the belief that mental health and physical health should be treated equally and that lessons must be learned from the pandemic.
“The scale of mental health issues during and after COVID-19 is significant,” she says. “The number of people seeking and not getting the help they need sadly confirms what we all feared, and in 2024 this crisis has not eased. must not be ignored and lessons must be learned. If we truly believe that mental and physical health should be considered equally, this decision needs to be reversed. There is still time for the investigation to do the right thing.”
“It’s impossible to test every area.”
Mrs Hallett said in her judgment that it was “completely impossible, and unnecessary, to consider in detail all areas of non-COVID-19 care”, adding that while adhering to the schedule, module 3 He said it was not possible to expand.
“We point out that the terms of reference for the inquiry include ‘impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the public’,” she said. “This implies a broader remit than access to and impact on services for adult mental health. Other modules can help explore this.”
He said there were other ways the inquiry could gather evidence, including an independent inquiry it commissioned and an interview exercise called Every Story Matters, adding: “A combination of approaches could be used to address this aspect of the inquiry’s terms of reference. “I plan to use it,” he added.
Mrs Hallett’s decision risks disappointing millions of people if the inquiry does not properly take into account the impact that coronavirus and its repeated lockdowns have had on people’s mental health. This was done in response to a warning from the group.
A study by Bangor University academics published last year found that those who followed pandemic restrictions most closely were the most likely to suffer from stress, anxiety and depression.
Post-pandemic surge
Children are also affected, with a total of one in nine now reported to have some form of disability, following a surge in mental health and behavioral disorders following the pandemic.
Official figures show the number of under-16s with a recorded disability has increased by more than a third in just two years since the pandemic.
The inquiry will travel to Belfast this week to examine Northern Ireland’s response to the pandemic, and has already visited Edinburgh and Cardiff to carry out similar investigations.
The inquiry’s terms of reference mean Mrs Hallett must investigate the matter.
A spokesperson for the inquiry said: “Chairman Baroness Hallett said the inquiry will target the impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health throughout our research, including Module 3, and including Everyday listening exercise across the UK. “The story is important.
“Module 3 public hearings examining the impact of the pandemic on the UK health system will begin in September 2024. Public hearings on other modules are expected to run until 2026.
