What were we trying to do?
We wanted to find out how COVID-19 had affected the mental health of people in the North compared to other parts of England. 

 

 

Why was this important?
A report – The Parallel Pandemic: COVID-19 and Mental Health - written by the Northern Health Science Alliance, NIHR ARC-GM, and other NIHR ARCs in the North of England showed that, during the pandemic, mental health in the North worsened more than in other parts of England. 

 

Before the pandemic, mental health in the North was already worse compared to the rest of England and since the pandemic has ended, mental health in the North hasn’t improved to pre-pandemic levels. 

 

This worsening in mental health reduces productivity in the people it affects. So, it’s important to understand the number of people affected, and how they have been affected, so we can find ways to improve post-pandemic mental health – and productivity – both in the North and across England. 

 

 

How did we do it?
We used data collected in the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (which collects data about physical and mental health from a large number of people in England) during all 9 ‘waves’ of the pandemic. 
We used the data to study 4 specific areas relating to mental health during the pandemic: 

 

1. Regional trends in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic
2. Inequalities in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: by ethnicity, sex, income and age
3. Regional trends in antidepressant prescribing before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
4. Impact of the parallel pandemic on productivity.

 

 

Findings

Key findings included:

 

• We estimated that mental health issues developed by people in the North during the pandemic (between April 2020 and September 2021) cost the UK economy more than £2bn.
• The number of under-35s in the North who developed a psychiatric disorder during the pandemic increased by 2.5%, compared to a reduction of 1.3% countrywide. 
• There was a 12% increase in the number of antidepressants prescribed in the North during the pandemic, with northern people being prescribed more antidepressants than people in the rest of the country.
• Over the course of the pandemic, people from ethnic minorities had a larger fall in their average mental health than other ethnicities, with the biggest fall seen in the North. 
• Across England, the gap in mental health between people in the lowest and highest income households increased fourfold (from a 0.47 point gap in 2019 to a 2.16 point gap in September 2021).

 

Based on the findings, 10 policy recommendations were made, including:

 

1. Increase NHS and local authority resources and service provision for mental health in the North. Increase the existing NHS health inequalities weighting within the NHS funding formula.
2. Build resilience in mental and physical health in the most vulnerable communities and support them through the cost-of-living crisis by increasing benefit payments and by getting rid of the two-child cap.
3. Invest in research into mental health interventions in the North, specifically in communities that will benefit most strongly from them.

 

See the report The Parallel Pandemic: COVID-19 and Mental Health for full findings and policy recommendations. 

 

 

Who did we work with?

• Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA)
• NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria
• NIHR ARC North West Coast
• NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber
• NIHR School for Public Health Research

 

 

Funding information
This work was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Northern Health Science Alliance. 

 

 

More information

Mike Spence
Senior Programme Lead 
mike.spence@healthinnovationmanchester.com