Covid’s impact on mental health

Information from the Office for National Statistics showed that even before the pandemic, people from BAME groups faced a “triple whammy of threats” – to their mental health, incomes and life expectancy – that exacerbated their vulnerability to Covid.  Other research, this time by the Mental Health Foundation, revealed that key indicators of distress amongst UK adults – including loneliness, suicidality and not coping well with stress – are more prevalent now than at the start of the pandemic, though it emphasised that it is not yet clear whether there has been any impact on suicide rates. It recommended long-term COVID-mental health recovery plans.

Here, Health Minister launched a public consultation on a new, ten year draft Mental Health Strategy for Northern Ireland on 21 December, to run until 26 March 2021.