In many healthcare systems, parity of esteem is unrealized because of the pervasive stigma of mental illness.
Mental illness has been assessed as constituting around a quarter of the disease burden in developed countries.
Expenditure on mental health services provided by NHS trusts fell by around 8.25% between 2010 and 2015.
[3] According to Dr Phil Moore, chair of the Mental Health Commissioners Network at NHS Clinical Commissioners, discussions in 2016 had degenerated into a funding dispute.
He wanted to see discussions about the degree to which mental health is embedded into other services, including the integration of psychological services with general practice[4] It has also been raised as an issue when comparing pay and conditions in healthcare with social care, where pay is generally much lower.