Warwickshire County Council has reported a 60 per cent increase in the volume of people requiring mental health support over a five-year period.

The startling figure was published as part of the county adult social care strategy, the overarching set of principles that will guide policy in this area through to 2030. 

It set the scene by highlighting increasing demand for services, up by 13 per cent overall since the financial year 2018-19. 

There has been a 14 per cent increase in the number of older people needing help with those with physical or learning disabilities up by a more modest five per cent, making mental health the outlier.

In August this year, the council was commissioning or providing support for just shy of 8,000 people overall, up almost 500 on this time last year and by more than 1,200 since April 2019.

The council's report read: "We are seeing a rise in the number of elderly residents requiring social care support funded by the council. 

"Alongside this, we are seeing an increase in the complexity of issues that all adults using our services are experiencing.

"These impact on the level of care required and the mix of professionals involved in their care."

Cllr Sarah Feeney queried whether strains on the NHS explained the difference.

"I was surprised by the mental health demand shooting up so significantly," she said.

"Later in the document, it talks about what might be improved on, working in unison with other agencies to provide seamless care, and I wondered how we were coping, particularly with the mental health demands.

"We know the NHS is swamped with mental health demand itself – are we partly picking up some of the demand that they would normally have met?"

Warwickshire County Council's executive director for social care and health Becky Hale replied: "They are not necessarily counteracting each other, it is demand within both areas, so not the NHS sending more activity through to social care.

"We do have joint arrangements with Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT) to deliver mental health services and that is working well. 

"At the recent adult social care and health overview and scrutiny committee, we had an update on community transformation which I think is really positive but it is bringing in, quite rightly, more people who need access to support. 

"We are seeing a greater increase in demand and we are keeping an eye on that and also looking at the things we can do with CWPT and NHS colleagues to manage that demand and do things as early as possible."