Jersey likely to see rise in OCD cases in line with UK trend

JERSEY is likely to see an increase in people seeking help for obsessive compulsive disorder in line with the UK – although the Island’s Health Department does not currently collect referral data in a way that allows trends to be measured.

It comes after new NHS figures showed referrals for OCD treatment rose by 47% between 2024 and 2025.

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds with the mental-health disorder has tripled in the past decade, according to the data, and the UK health service gave 670,000 courses of treatment last year.

OCD is a mental health condition in which people experience recurring unwanted thoughts, images or urges – known as obsessions – that cause anxiety. To relieve that anxiety, they may feel compelled to carry out repetitive behaviours or mental rituals, known as compulsions.

The disorder is estimated to affect around 1.2% of the population, which would equate to more than 1,200 Islanders.

Following queries from the JEP about whether Jersey had seen a rise in OCD treatment referrals similar to that in the UK, the Health Department said it was unable to provide local figures.

Managing director Andy Weir explained: “Whilst individual diagnoses are recorded within the individual clinical records, referral numbers are not tracked by diagnosis in a way that would easily enable this analysis.”

But he added that improvements were planned as part of the government’s wider digital health programme.

“We are currently planning the implementation in 2027 of a new electronic patient record for mental health, which will make the collection of information like this much easier.”

Although the Island’s most recent mental-health needs assessment did not identify a particular rise in OCD cases, Mr Weir said the Health Department would nevertheless expect local figures to broadly mirror what has been seen elsewhere.

“We would expect to see some increase locally in line with the trend in England,” he noted.