NHS billions wasted as bipolar patients left ‘forgotten and failed’

Failing to properly diagnose and treat people with bipolar disorder 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.

Courtesy: BBC