Camden News: Community Mental Health Service | Gospel Oak | Rebecca Harrington

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Camden News - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 29 May 2008

Mentally ill ‘cluster’ blamed on rich-poor split

DIVISIONS between rich and poor could explain why a “cluster” of the severely mentally ill live in one Camden ward, councillors were told on Tuesday.
Councillors demanded a full investigation after a Town Hall report showed that more than half of the borough’s most troubled mental health sufferers are housed by the council in Gospel Oak ward.
More than 40,000 residents of Camden have received treatment for mental health issues and more than 4,000 are described as having “serious mental health problems”, according to the Community Mental Health Service report.
It reveals that of 83 people whose mental illness is threatening their tenancies, 43 live in Gospel Oak.
Report author Rebecca Harrington told the council’s housing and adult social care scrutiny committee: “There are a small number of people whose mental health difficulties do make them struggle to meet their tenancies. We know there are very high numbers of people with depression and anxiety in Gospel Oak. It is quite a public health issue.”
She said that the survey could not explain why Gospel Oak contained the cluster of severe cases – reported by housing staff as having mental illnesses that affected their neighbours – but said research suggested that “living cheek-by-jowl with someone privileged” could predispose the poor to mental illness. “There is a particular stark contrast between levels of wealth and levels of poverty in that area,” she added.
Gospel Oak Conservative councillor Keith Sedgwick’s claim that the council deliberately housed mentally ill tenants in his ward prompted the inquiry.
He said: “You can see the people causing anti-social behaviour because of mental illness are concentrated in my area.”
Conservative social care chief Councillor Martin Davies said his department would examine whether “there is a level of concentration of people with mental health problems that an area can bear”.

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