Providing Physical Health Checks for People with Severe Mental Illness in Primary Care in England: An Evaluation of a Locally Enhanced Service

Abstract

Background/Objectives: People with a severe mental illness die much earlier than the rest of the population from a preventable physical illness. Annual health checks are a way of assessing the person to then offer the appropriate interventions. Integrated Care Northampton, England used the long-term plan baseline funding allocated to them from the government department that commissions primary care services, to implement a local enhanced service. Their aim was to provide a person-centred physical health check that people with severe mental illness feel comfortable, confident, and able to engage with. Methods: Wellbeing Organisation Research Training Hub Northampton were commissioned by Integrated Care Northampton to provide training, support, and evaluate the locally enhanced service. Training was provided by training trainers who then offered one-to-one support to those delivering health checks in practice. Providers of the health checks could also access individual support from Wellbeing Organisation Research Training Hub staff. Patient data were collected via a template that is part of usual practice. Questionnaires were used to evaluate the education of staff, the delivery of health checks, and the impact on people with severe mental illness. Results: Training was well received but most of the trainers did not continue in their role. The project was successful in highlighting the physical health needs of people with severe mental illness and monitoring in primary care increased. Though methods were put in place to evaluate the delivery of health checks and their impact on people with severe mental illness, these were not utilised by the service. Conclusions: This paper emphasises how difficult it is to implement a new service and evaluate it successfully. Future projects should prioritise measuring the quality of the service.