Demand for mental health support and care has risen as Bristol’s population has become “frailer and more fragile” since the pandemic. Hundreds of working age adults are receiving long-term support due to their mental health, rising by a quarter over the past four years.
Bristol City Council now spends more money on care packages for working age adults than elderly people. People need care support for a range of reasons, including learning disabilities, physical support and social support, but mental health is one reason driving the rise in demand.
According to the latest council figures, 2,677 people from Bristol aged 16 to 64 are receiving long-term care. This has increased by almost ten per cent over the past three years, and there are now only slightly more people aged 65 or over receiving long-term care.
Hugh Evans, executive director of adults and communities, told councillors on the adult social care policy committee on Monday, October 21, that there was a “national crisis of mental health”. He added that there are more disabled people in Bristol than the national average.
He said: “Since Covid the demand for mental health services and support — from GP appointments all the way through to people needing beds in acute mental health hospitals — across the board has increased by 25 per cent.
“That’s why the vast majority of our purchasing overspend is younger adults with enduring mental health needs, quite often they have disabilities and autism as well. There’s a national crisis of mental health and our population, because of Covid and austerity and the cost of living crisis, is now a frailer and more fragile population than it was perhaps ten or 15 years ago.
“That makes a difference to demand. But also we have a relatively young population. Among our younger adults we have marginally higher levels of disability. We’re about three per cent higher than average, 19.5 per cent as opposed to 16.5 per cent.”
Many other parts of the country are also seeing rising demand for social care, heaping extra pressure onto council budgets already suffering from government austerity. Bristol’s population of elderly people is forecast to grow in the next decade, adding to demand for care and support.
Mr Evans added: “We’ve not got an ageing population in nearly the same way as a lot of other places, but it’s getting there. There’s a bulge that’s working its way up the demographic graph. In ten years’ time the presentation of dementia and other issues of frailty that you get among the elderly population will increase. We’re seeing the beginning of that now.”