Streeting Adds To The Stigmatisation Of Mental Illness By Claiming Over Diagnosis
The health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, is set to launch a review on the prevalence of mental illness and neurodivergence, focusing especially on potential overdiagnosis of certain conditions. The review will be chaired by Peter Fonagy, a leading psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist, with Sir Simon Wessely, former Royal College of Psychiatry president and NHS England board adviser, serving as vice chair.
This initiative comes amid growing concerns over long waits and backlogs in diagnosis and treatment, particularly for ADHD and autism. The review is expected to be announced soon.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer emphasized the need to reconsider spending on benefits for mental health conditions, suggesting more investment should go into treatment and support. He highlighted the issue of young people on benefits due to mental health, stressing the difficulty they face in exiting the benefits system and the moral imperative to change this.
Peter Fonagy is currently head of psychology and language sciences at University College London and chief executive of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. Sir Simon Wessely is a regius professor of psychiatry at King’s College London and remains an NHS England board adviser.
Recent data shows average waits of 14 months for autism assessments, far exceeding the 13-week guideline, with growing referral numbers. ADHD waiting times can be up to eight years for adults and four years for children, prompting many to turn to private providers for diagnosis.
Brian Dow, deputy chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, expressed hope that the review’s findings will support timely and appropriate treatment. He also called for urgent government action to address the escalating mental health waiting lists to prevent increasing crises, job losses, and hospitalizations.
The latest data highlights a severe crisis in waiting times for autism and ADHD assessments in England. As of June 2025, over 236,000 individuals were waiting for an autism assessment, marking a 15% increase in just one year and 53% over two years. The average waiting time for an autism assessment has surged to over 17 months, significantly exceeding the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended maximum of 13 weeks. Nearly 89% of those waiting have surpassed this recommended wait time.
Regional disparities are stark, with waiting times for autism assessments varying from 54 days in some parts of England to over 1,000 days in others, meaning some families wait years to even be seen. For ADHD, waits are similarly long, with adult assessment waiting times reported up to eight years and four years for children in some areas. NHS data and provider reports indicate that some services are currently assessing referrals made years earlier, with shortages in workforce and funding exacerbating delays.
These prolonged waits contribute to mental health deterioration, job loss, and crisis situations among those awaiting diagnosis and treatment.
This data contextualizes the planned review led by Peter Fonagy and vice-chaired by Sir Simon Wessely, aiming to address these backlogs and concerns about potential overdiagnosis in mental illness and neurodivergence. The review comes amid urgent calls for increased funding and reform to meet demand and reduce these harmful delays.
Wes Streeting, the UK Health and Social Care Secretary, has expressed concerns about the overdiagnosis of some mental health conditions, suggesting that too many people are being "written off" when they could potentially remain in or return to work.
He highlighted the need to distinguish between mental health problems that require treatment and those that might be addressed earlier to prevent escalation to more serious illness or crisis. Streeting's comments have sparked debate, with mental health organizations emphasizing that while early intervention is important, the crisis in mental health is real, and the issue is often underdiagnosis and lack of support rather than overdiagnosis.
Critics argue that the term "overdiagnosis" risks stigmatizing people with mental health issues and that many individuals on benefits have been diagnosed by experienced professionals. Some commentators suggest that Streeting may have meant "over-medicalization"—referring to the excessive medical treatment and labeling of mental distress rather than an actual excess of diagnoses.
Overall, Streeting’s position calls for careful examination of diagnosis practices and a focus on providing timely and appropriate mental health support, rather than automatically assuming all diagnosed cases warrant long-term benefits without exploring treatment and work support options.
However, many feel this analysis is way off the reality of mental illness in the UK.
Streeting made his original comments about the ‘over diagnosis’ of mental health conditions on March 15 and 16, 2025, in interviews and public statements including on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting said there is an "overdiagnosis" of some mental health problems with "too many people being written off" when they could be supported to return to work.
These remarks sparked responses from mental health organizations and experts throughout March 2025, highlighting concerns about both overdiagnosis claims and the distinction between diagnosis and over-medicalization of mental distress.
However, his words were clearly seen by many as being smoke and mirrors, when he actually was criticising the professionalism of Doctors and trying to deflect from the state of the NHS mental health services which are more and more that of NHS Dentistry – taken over by the private sector.
Source: BBC News / HSJ
