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Bridging the mental and physical health gap

According to the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, the failure to integrate physical and mental healthcare by hospitals means patients with mental health issues get poor care.

The failure by general hospitals to integrate physical and mental healthcare services is leading to poor care for patients with a physical illness who also happen to have a mental health condition, the latest report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) reveals. The study is the result of an in-depth review into 552 cases (all patients had a physical illness and a mental health condition) where the confidential enquiry looked into the impact a patient’s mental health condition had on the care they received in hospital. Most of the 552 patients had been admitted through hospital emergency departments (ED).

The NCEPOD report comes at a time when health professionals are expressing concerns that patients with a severe mental illness develop medical conditions a decade earlier in their lives than other people, and die 15 to 20 years earlier as a consequence. Also, a significant number of patients in general hospitals with physical health conditions often have more common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. 

Calling on general hospitals to integrate physical and mental healthcare services as a matter of urgency, report co-author Dr Vivek Srivastava, NCEPOD clinical co-ordinator and consultant in acute medicine, says that general hospital staff often don’t have the knowledge or confidence to care for people with mental health conditions appropriately: “Good care was only provided to 46% of patients in this study, showing patients who had a mental health condition suffered the double-whammy of both poor physical and mental healthcare.

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Upcoming Events

Central Sterilising Club - Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Crowne Plaza at Gerrard’s Cross
15th April 2024 – 16th April 2024

DECON UK 2024

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
17th April 2024

Infection Prevention & Control

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
23rd - 24th April 2024

Theatres & Decontamination Conference 2024

Coventry Building Society Arena
16th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Birmingham

Millennium Point, Birmingham
18th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Exeter

University of Exeter
22nd June 2024

Access the latest issue of Clinical Services Journal on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

Download the FREE Clinical Services Journal app from your device's App store

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