"Cancer attracts significant government and philanthropic money, public sympathy and a support network deep and wide. When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, there is a clear pathway of care even though the road can be unnecessarily bumpy. Between the researchers who come up with discoveries and clinicians who use them on patients are any number of people who enrich the ecosystem: nurses, social workers, allied health and volunteers."
"Mental illness is the poor cousin to physical conditions. Although it is the subject of greater awareness and increased funding, as they say, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. It is difficult for people to access comprehensive care and practically impossible to receive continuity of care, arguably the most important part of recovery. In an excellent public hospital system in so many ways, I find the gap in outpatient care and support services for mental illness incomprehensible."
A patient in her 60s has two separate, incurable, life-threatening cancers alongside long-term depression and dependent, unwell relatives. Surgical intervention for one cancer could jeopardize treatment for the other, leading to advice to avoid major operations. Cancer care receives significant government and philanthropic funding, broad public sympathy, and a well-developed support network including researchers, clinicians, nurses, social workers, allied health and volunteers. Mental illness receives growing attention but remains difficult to access with poor continuity of outpatient care and support services. Dual-diagnosis patients therefore receive comprehensive treatment for cancer yet fragmented, inadequate mental-health care, creating inequity and poorer recovery prospects.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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