Why is actively promoting a ‘Physical Health’ important?
Actively promoting a ‘Physical Health’ is important, because people with serious mental illness are at some of the greatest risk of poor health and premature mortality. With research showing on average, they die 20 years earlier than the general population, due to preventable physical problems; with a life expectancy similar to the general population in the 1950s.
So what is the Physical Health initiative?
As one of four pilot sites in England, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is working with the Living Longer Lives team to examine how service improvement approaches can support initiatives to improve the cardiovascular physical health of people with serious mental illness and assess the effectiveness of best practice models using the Lester tool (2014) as part of the implementation of the new National CQUIN for physical health in mental health.
How is the Physical Health Initiative being fostered?
Mersey Care have been provided with funding from NHS Improving Quality to improve the physical health of people with a severe mental illness by implementing the recommended Lester Tool UK Adaption for Positive Cardiometabolic Health Resource and providing screening and resulting interventions to 100% of patients on Albert Ward.
Following implementation on Albert Ward, the project will spread the findings and embed the use of the Lester tool across all units.
What key tasks are we focusing on with this initiative?
To find out more about the work of the local ‘Physical Health’ pilot, please contact us at email@example.com