The NHS at 60: The Cost of Health - Dementia v Mental Wellbeing

BBC Health Correspondent Branwen Jeffreys presents a series of debates as the NHS marks its sixtieth anniversary. A panel of guests examines funding dilemmas that face the NHS and analyses how the cost of health is balanced against quality of care and the values of the NHS. Each programme features two expert advocates who marshall supporting evidence using case studies and data to argue their position. And in the studio, a business person and a politician are forced to reconcile principle with pragmatism and make tough choices between deserving cases. Niall Dickson of the King's Fund is on hand to provide the context for these important choices and explain how decisions are actually made within the NHS. Dementia and mental health care services are always pressed when budgets are tight, yet both are areas of increasing importance that seldom get the attention they deserve. The burden on families and carers of dementia sufferers is intense while in the case of mental health, the cost to society is huge. Alzheimer's patients and their families are challenging NICE's rulings about drug treatments in court; mental health advocates are calling on greater provision of effective but costly talking therapies over traditional drug treatments. So who gets priority?