WES Streeting’s claim there is an overdiagnosis of mental health conditions is a “distraction” from the “chronic underfunding” of mental health services, a psychiatry expert has said.
Professor Daniel Smith, head of the psychiatry department at Edinburgh University, told The National people with severe mental health issues are actually underdiagnosed, adding he was “disappointed” in Streeting’s “unhelpful” summary of an extremely complex and nuanced situation.
The UK Health Secretary was asked by the BBC on Sunday whether he thought overdiagnosis was a problem, to which he replied: “I want to follow the evidence and I agree with that point about overdiagnosis.”
He added: “Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis but there’s too many people being written off and, to your point about treatment, too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need.”
It is anticipated that Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will set out plans this week for benefits reform that could see the welfare budget slashed by as much as £6 billion.
There are reports that this could include cuts to the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability benefit.
Smith, whose expertise is in bipolar disorder, said he found Streeting’s remarks disrespectful and has concerns about how they may impact people facing severe mental health problems.
Wes Streeting says there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions. #bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/Ht0zgNzAs9
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 16, 2025
“I’m slightly disappointed when politicians come out with single line sentences like this in such a complex area and it’s slightly disrespectful to patients and their families as well as clinicians who are grappling with these complexities,” he told The National.
“My concern is that yet again with stigma at the severe end of the mental health spectrum, these comments will affect people who have got more severe illnesses.
“These people need more not less support. They and their families will be worried by these type of statements.”
On the back of Streeting’s comments, mental health charity Mind said it was important to be “extremely careful” with the language around mental health diagnoses to avoid “stigmatising”.
Smith said that while there is potentially an issue with milder mental health difficulties being misdiagnosed in some circumstances, people with severe mental health conditions are still waiting years to access the support they need because of a delay in diagnosis.
“In some respects, with milder mental health problems, which often get better with a change of circumstances and don’t necessarily cause people long-term problems, […] those individuals probably don’t need a formal psychiatric diagnosis as such,” he said.
“Some of them in the current cultural climate do end up getting various diagnoses and sometimes that may or may not be helpful, but it depends on the individual.
“[However], at the severe end of the spectrum, in my area such as bipolar disorder, we know from lots of research that most people with bipolar disorder experience quite a long delay before getting the correct diagnosis – on average about eight years of delay between first having symptoms and finally getting a diagnosis.
“So at the more severe end of the mental illness spectrum, there is problems with underdiagnosis.
“I think on some level this is a distraction from the chronic underfunding of mental health services compared to other services in the NHS.
“NHS psychiatry is constantly dealing with emergency admissions to hospital, more acute psychiatry, and doesn’t have the resources to actually prevent people relapsing properly. We should be thinking about how to prevent people from becoming unwell in the first place rather than just being reactive.”
Smith said Streeting had a clear “agenda” of trying to pay people less in benefits and get people back to work.
While he said there were some positives to his ambition of getting people back into employment, there will be many people with severe conditions who will be frightened by Labour’s proposals.
He argued that greater investment in mental health services would be a more productive way of getting people back into the workplace.
Smith said: “His agenda is obviously to pay less in benefits and get people back to work.
“People getting back to work when you don’t need to be off work is a obviously good thing for people’s mental health, but equally I think there’s a lot of people who will be frightened by the threat of having their allowances cut.
“People with genuine severe mental illnesses who are really doing their best will be very anxious that that lifeline will be threatened.
“I think he’s [Streeting] focussing on the milder end of the spectrum when actually it’s the people at the more severe end of the spectrum who are just not getting a very good service because of chronic under resourced services.
“If you invest more in mental health services looking after people with more severe illnesses, you will get people back into the workforce.”
