BBC: Psychiatric patients to receive physical health checks

[natasa778]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27417700

Mental health trusts are to be paid for carrying out assessments of the physical condition and lifestyle of psychiatric patients.

NHS England says the scheme is the biggest initiative of its kind.

The programme aims to cut the number of mental health patients who die from heart, liver and lung disease in particular.

Mental health patients die from physical health problems about 15 years earlier than the general population.

Their life expectancy is similar to people living in the 1950s.

The assessments will therefore looks at a variety of indicators including patients' diet, weight, blood pressure and whether they smoke.

Hospital patients will be among the first to checked, especially those on anti-psychotic drugs.

The pills can lead to rapid weight gain and some patients refuse the medication for that reason.

Once the assessments have been carried out, the patient can be passed to another consultant or given education and advice on the appropriate ways to improve their physical health.

NHS England estimate that mental health trusts could earn up to £200,000 this year from carrying out the checks.

Dr Geraldine Strathdee, NHS England's national clinical director for mental health, said: "We are committed to making sure that mental health is treated the same way as physical health, and NHS England is working hard to close the gap between the two.

"The national financial incentive we have introduced this year for trusts is the world's largest ever initiative in improving physical health in people with severe mental ill health conditions and will be a clinical quality game changer.

"Mental health staff in England are to carry out lifestyle checks on their patients to improve their physical health in an attempt to reduce avoidable deaths.

 

[Min]

Does this mean yet more enforced exercise for those poor souls with the neurological illness myalgic encephalomyelitis who have been inappropriately sectioned?

 

[golden]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27417700



Dr Geraldine Strathdee, NHS England's national clinical director for mental health, said: "We are committed to making sure that mental health is treated the same way as physical health, and NHS England is working hard to close the gap between the two.

"The national financial incentive we have introduced this year for trusts is the world's largest ever initiative in improving physical health in people with severe mental ill health conditions and will be a clinical quality game changer.

"Mental health staff in England are to carry out lifestyle checks on their patients to improve their physical health in an attempt to reduce avoidable deaths.

I think its about time. It has long annoid me that people given a psychiactric label have been medically neglected and left to die earlier -

That psychiactric patients should have their psych med re-evaluated as i suspect their will be a lot they should be taken off

that psych patients are often encouraged into chain smoking, caffiene and excess sugar addiction in psych hospitals too.

I have seen people with psych diagnoses work hard to clean up their lufestyle and go on radical clean diets, detox and become very well and balanced.

I suspect too that perhsps psych misdiagnoses maybe found when the physical is more readily assessed.

Unfortunately i guess this wont go far enough and vitamin and mineral counts wont be done, parasites wint be looked for, heavy metals and toxicities wont be addressed, thyroid basal temp wont be tsken...

But still, its a start-

 

[maryb]

I welcome this in a way as I have a neice who has schizophrenia, she is managing very well but has put on a massive amount of weight and her breathing always sounds suspicious to me.... not that I'm an expert, she says its worse when she gets stressed or anxious, fair enough but don't think enough medical care is being taken of her. Difficult to get involved when you are sick yourself. So if she can benefit from this all well and good. About time someone in my family had something from the NHS!!!

 

[Artstu]

It'd be nice if they treated us in a similar way, instead of being left to rot away at home with no ongoing monitoring of our health. All I get is a shrug of the shoulders if I ever go to the doctors.

 

[peggy-sue]

It would be a huge burden of discrimmination removed if folk with mental health issues were paid the same benefits as physical health issues.
It's not as if they cost less to house or feed or keep warm than other folk!

That is gross discrimmination from officialdom.

 

[Little Bluestem]

I suspect too that perhsps psych misdiagnoses maybe found when the physical is more readily assessed.

I doubt that since it sounds like the physical assessments will be carried out by the psych docs and their staff.

 

[golden]

I doubt that since it sounds like the physical assessments will be carried out by the psych docs and their staff.

Yes. I was being a little too idealistic and hopeful there lol

 

[stridor]

The first and primary physical examination should be to see if there are any physiological problems driving the symptoms. I had "Brittle Bipolar II, Rapid-Cycling, Mixed States" and was hospitalized on a number of occasions. It all went away early in the mercury detox process. Methylation-Mercury-Mitochondria.

Every one of these major psychiatric illnesses has a caveat which is "unless explained by a physical condition" (or something to that effect). Yet no one checks for a physical condition. The GP washes his hands as soon as he sees psych symptoms because it is out of his "field of expertise" and when the psychiatrist gets their hands on you, they don't test either because it has been 20 years since they were in med school.

And it gets worse. Try to help yourself with chelation or a methylation protocol and often the Drs will run interference. If you manage to correct the problem, instead of acknowledging the success, they will state that you went into "spontaneous remission". No one is allowed to recover from psychiatric illness unless they are treated with psychotropics.

Anyway, preaching to the choir again.... I just get fed-up. brad