Benchmarking Physical Health Checks in People with Severe Mental Illness

People with severe mental illness (SMI) die up to 20 years earlier than the general population. Mental Health Trusts offer an annual physical health check on all their patients living with bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia.  This is to identify early signs of illness and help people access any necessary treatment or prevention quicker.

The annual physical health checks consist of:

• Height and weight
• Blood glucose
• Blood Pressure
• Blood lipids
• Smoking status
• Alcohol use

Currently only around half of people who are eligible for an annual physical health check through their Mental health trust or their GP actually receive them in full.

The HIN South London is working with Physical Health Leads in all NHS Mental Health Trusts across London to see if it is possible to identify any groups of people who disproportionately miss out on their physical health checks. This will inform recommendations for a second phase to find out more about how those people can be helped.

The project will examine fully anonymised data from all 9 NHS Mental Health providers in London using the following characteristics to form a picture of who may be missing their physical health checks:

• Age
• Ethnicity
• Sex
• Area of deprivation
• Diagnosis

The project is due to complete in Spring 2024. Findings and recommendations will be shared on completion of the project.