Mental health issues '˜increasingly serious'
Mental illness is an increasingly serious problem in Lancashire, and there is a definite link with deprivation, chair of Healthwatch Lancashire Mike Wedgeworth said.
The proportion of people between 16 and 74 living with common mental health conditions in Blackpool is 21.2 per cent, compared to 15.6 nationally, while 55.3 per cent found treatment for depression was proving successful, against 60 per cent nationally, Public Health England statistics show.
Mr Wedgeworth said: “All other parts of Lancashire are above the national average.
“It seems obvious that tackling the problem of low pay and unemployment is some part of the answer to improving mental health.”