- Demand for mental health support accounts for one fifth of managed cases following specialist referral (22%)1
- More women (61% of requests) than men (39%) seek support for mental health
- Significant improvement in conditions with 73% of cases moved outside the clinical range requiring no further support
Canada Life has published new data from its WeCare support services, following the extension of the service to its group income protection customers in March 2021.
The demand for mental health support eclipses all other areas of support accounting for one in five (22%) of the managed cases accessing WeCare. Of those cases, 61% of cases have come from women, while 39% came from men.
Looking at the age profile of cases, 60% of people were in the age bracket 16-40, with the balance aged 40+. Most cases were in the age group 28-33, accounting for 22% of cases, followed by ages 34-39 at 18% of cases.
Severity of illness and WeCare success
WeCare measures levels of psychological distress using the NHS accepted CORE-10 assessment, where patients are presented with 10 statements about mental health and asked to rate each one. Following an initial conversation, over half the cases (56%) were categorised as moderately or mildly psychologically distressed. A further 29% were categorised as moderately or severely psychologically distressed, which is the severest level. The balance of cases (15%) were outside the clinical range guidelines.
Following the intervention of WeCare support, there was a significant improvement in the vast majority of cases. 73% of all cases were moved outside the clinical definition of requiring further support, 24% of cases continued to report mild or moderate psychological distress, while a further 3% remained in the severest category, requiring referral to NHS support services.
Ian Ranger, head of claims, Canada Life group insurance commented:
“We face a huge challenge as a nation in the post pandemic recovery phase and none more so than in the area of mental health support. Already a huge issue pre pandemic, the demand for services and support continues unabated.
“As our WeCare data shows, mental health is an issue which covers all ages and genders, and can have a devastating impact on friends and family too. I’m proud of the way our support service has stepped up to the plate and delivered such a positive contribution to so many people’s lives in such difficult times.
“I’d encourage anyone to take that first difficult step and have a conversation, whether that be with a family member, friend, their GP or if the support is available, using a service such as WeCare through their employer.”
What is WeCare?
WeCare is an extensive range of virtual services offering holistic help via medical, mental, legal and financial support. This includes health, mental health and wellbeing support, and includes virtual GP consultations, second medical opinion services, smoking cessation support, mental health support, life event counselling, burnout prevention, diet support and get fit programmes.
WeCare provides:
- Clarity of journey; by bringing all services under one roof, it provides a clear and concise single contact point for employees and family members to access all services
- Accessibility, through a variety of convenient access points (phone, email, web, app)
- Quality of contact; from the outset a WeCare service user can access a variety of healthcare professionals.
- Source: Canada Life managed case data for WeCare support services, 1.3.21 – 31.7.21.
- For further information on WeCare please go to www.canadalife.co.uk/workplace-protection/support-services/wecare/