NHS billions wasted as bipolar patients left 'forgotten and failed'

Failing to properly diagnose and treat people with bipolar disorder, external is wasting billions of pounds a year in the UK, according to new data shared exclusively with the BBC. Experts say many of the estimated million people living with this condition are "ghosts in the system", whose lives are being torn apart by poorly managed extreme suicidal lows or manic, erratic highs.

Emma was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 30s, after experiencing a mental health crisis.

When she was 32 weeks pregnant, her grandmother died unexpectedly, sending her into a "deep low". "I felt awful, but the perinatal team wouldn't take me on," she says. "They said my symptoms weren't that serious."

When Emma gave birth, the extreme lows of her pregnancy were replaced by an unexpected high. She felt amazing in the days after her baby was born - but she didn't sleep and her behaviour became increasingly erratic.

A few weeks later, her mood flipped again. When her baby was three weeks old, Emma took an overdose.

It took a week in hospital for her liver function to return. But even after that, she was in and out of hospital for a year before finally being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and medicated correctly.

"If I had the correct care, and been listened to during my pregnancy or even earlier, I could have avoided taking that overdose - 100%," she says.

Experts have told the BBC how most people living with bipolar disorder in the UK are "undertreated, undiagnosed and left to try and survive in a system that has failed them".

The majority who, like Emma, are eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder, are incorrectly prescribed antidepressants initially, which makes their symptoms worse rather than better. Experts also say there is a lack of continuity of care from GPs through to psychiatrists.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), bipolar disorder is a manageable condition.

Dr Trudi Seneviratne, registrar at the RCPsych and a commissioner on the Bipolar Commission, says it is "completely treatable" with a combination of medication, talking therapies and lifestyle factors.

"But there are many, many people who are suffering in silence with lower levels of symptoms because there isn't a good clinical care pathway for them in the UK."

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Source; BBC News, 1 April 2025