Update, January 2022
On Tuesday 25 January at 4:30pm there will be a Westminster Hall debate on the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin (APPGS) report on Mental Health and Skin Conditions published in 2020. The debate is only open to MPs and visits to the House are currently suspended, but it will be available to watch on Parliament TV: https://www.parliamentlive.tv/.
23 September 2020
National Eczema Society was very pleased to see the publication of a major new report on mental health and skin disease, produced by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin (APPGS).
This looks at the mental health support available to people with skin conditions in the UK and the psychological impact of living with these conditions. It provides evidence of the urgent need for more and better services to support people with the mental health impact of skin conditions like eczema, which can be so debilitating.
Almost all the patients (98%) who took part in an APPGS survey earlier this year said their condition affects their emotional and psychological wellbeing. Five per cent reported having suicidal thoughts. Over half of the patients surveyed did not realise specialised support was available for people with skin conditions, in the form of psychodermatology.
National Eczema Society contributed to this important report and helped promote the patient survey. Thank you to everyone who took part and a number of powerful anonymised quotes from people with eczema are included in the report. Our wonderful patient advocate, Shal Henry-Treloar, spoke about her family’s experience of eczema and her own challenges at an APPGS evidence-gathering event in Westminster in March.
This APPGS report reinforces many of the findings of the Society’s own Eczema Unmasked survey, which we promoted during National Eczema Week. This also highlighted the mental health impacts of living with eczema and the lack of access to emotional and psychological support services.
The full APPGS report is here.