- 08 October 2019
- 4 min read
Insomnia-stricken broadcaster pleads for new emphasis on mental health treatment
SubscribeITV broadcaster Tom Bradby has called for the Government and the NHS to treat mental health problems with the same “seriousness” as cancer.

Mental health provision 'poor'
The award-winning journalist who anchors the News At Ten described the mental health provision as “poor” and compared it to what would be offered if someone had a physical illness.
Bradby suffered from his own mental health problems last year and was forced to take nearly five months off from work after developing insomnia.
“The mental health provision in this country on the state is so poor and there is so little chance of really going through the kind of mental health process that you would absolutely be put through if you had a physical illness,” Bradby said.
“This would actually allow you to re-boot your whole brain with different and more productive patterns of thinking.”
One day we will treat it as seriously as cancer
Bradby said the death of his parents was the trigger for a “deep crisis” and once he had come to terms with that he started to sleep better.
“What troubles me about it is that takes a lot of time and skill and effort of the part of a practitioner to lead you to expose the things that are not actually relevant,” Bradby said.
“I just wish and one day I believe we will, get to the stage as a country where mental health conditions are routinely treated with the same seriousness as cancer.”
Bradby was speaking at a panel event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival to discuss insomnia and his own personal experiences.
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