More Physical Help Needed For Mental Health Patients, Report Says.

A new report was published this weekend by the Independent Mental Health Taskforce out lining the ways mental health nurses can improve the physical health of mental health patients.

The plans have been lined out as part of the NHS Five Year Forward View. The steps are going to break down barriers in how care is provided between family doctors and hospitals, in relation to physical and mental health and between health and social care.

NHS England understands over the next five years they must strive to create an equal response to mental and physical health. The taskforce have laid out a number of recommendations such as:

• NHS England should undertake work to define a national reduction in premature mortality among young people with severe mental illness, achieving this from 2017/18.

• NHS England should ensure their work leads to 280,000 more people living with severe mental illness that will have their physical health needs met. This will include increasing early detection and expanding access to evidence based physical care assessments.

• Public Health England (PHE) should prioritise that people with mental health problems who are at greater risk of poor physical health get access to screening programmes. This should include primary and secondary prevention through screening and NHS Health Checks, as well as interventions for physical activity, obesity diabetes, heart disease, cancer and access to stop smoking services.

• NHS England and PHE should support all mental health inpatient units and facilities to be smoke-free by 2018.

• By April 2017, Health Education England (HEE) should work with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to develop standards for all prescribing health professionals that will include discussion of the risks and benefits of medication. This service should take into account people’s personal preferences, including preventative physical health support and the provision of accessible information to support informed decision making.

This report also found mortality among mental health service users aged 19 and over in England was 3.6 times the rate of the general population in 2010/11. People in contact with mental health services per 100,000 service users, compared to 100,000 in the general population, had a higher death rate for more causes of death. In particular:

• Nearly four time the rate of deaths from disease of the respiratory system at 142.2, compared with 37.3 general population.

• Just over four time the rate of deaths from diseases of the digestive system at 126.1, in comparison to 28.5.

• Nearly three times the rate of deaths from diseases of the circulatory system at 254, compared to 101.1 in the general population.

Within these disease areas specific conditions that were accountable for a higher proportion of deaths in service users (under 75) which were: disease of the liver (7.6% of deaths) and ischaemic heart diseases (9.9% of deaths.

To find out more please go to the report: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/524571/Improving_physical_health_A.pdf

#mentalhealth #physicalhealth #nhsengland #fiveyearplan