The Scottish Health and Wellbeing Network

Background

Awareness of the physical health needs of patients with SMI has been steadily growing throughout the UK in the past few years (Connolly and Kelly 2005). It is known that many factors contribute to the poor health of those suffering SMI, including high incidence of substance misuse, poor diet, smoking, irregular exercise and deprivation. A recent study has shown that clients with SMI appear to have an increased risk of death from respiratory and circulatory conditions, indicating that people who suffer from SMI appear to be at greater risk of experiencing poor general health and increased co-morbid medical illness.

In addition, some of the newer ‘atypical’ antipsychotic medications, although representing an advance in the management of SMI, can cause unpleasant side-effects that may substantially increase the risk of developing conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The side effects leading to these serious illnesses include abdominal weight gain (central obesity), reduced HDL cholesterol, raised triglyceride and fasting plasma glucose levels and raised blood pressure. Together, this cluster of symptoms is referred to as metabolic syndrome.

The UK National Service Framework for Mental Health states that people with severe mental illness (SMI) should have their physical health needs assessed. This is supported within the new General Medical Services (GMS) Contract, which includes a quality framework for which GP practices can qualify for additional income when they deliver a range of quality standards. There are 41 points available on completion of the mental health indicator. In 2002, the UK charity Rethink, formerly The Schizophrenia Fellowship, urged the government to offer patients with severe mental illness an annual health MOT from their GP. This followed a survey of nearly 3,000 patients with severe mental illness, 92% of whom said they had experienced serious adverse physical reactions to antipsychotic drugs.

The Scottish Health and Wellbeing Interest Group

The Scottish Health and Wellbeing Interest Group was established to promote, support and enable the development of practice within the area of mental health nursing.

We are a multidisciplinary network and we aim to be eclectic and inclusive. Practice development means different things to different people and of course this is both its strength and its weakness. In this network, we aim to provide a ‘virtual community’ of interested collaborators who are committed to sharing our knowledge, skill, expertise, insights and frustrations, achieved through our practice development work in relation to the health and wellbeing needs of our clients.

We recognise that practice development embraces both formal and informal activities and we too embrace these activities in the network. So, if you are interested in acquiring useful hints and tips to help you in your everyday practice, then this network will have something for you.

Our vision

Share developments in practice by enabling, supporting and engaging with mental health practitioner members who are developing health and wellbeing practices in order to change our client’s experience of mental healthcare.

Our Aim

To provide a network that supports mental healthcare practitioners in the development of practice initiatives in order to improve client’s experiences of healthcare through the advancement of knowledge and expertise.

Our Objectives

• Support collaborative, systematic and rigorous approaches to the health and wellbeing needs of our clients/carers
• Connect and support roles that develop clinical practice
• Exchange information for the advancement of clinical practice, knowledge and
  expertise
• Challenge and support assumptions
• Influence policy decisions at local and national levels

Our Activities

• Create a ’ Health and Wellbeing’ website that enables the aims and objectives of the
  Network to be achieved.
• Organise an annual conference that provides the opportunity for sharing and
  dissemination of good practice, collaborative working, support for members and
  evaluation of practice.
• Hold an Annual General Meeting each year to ensure that the “SCOTTISH HEALTH
  and WELLBEING NETWORK” group is representative of members, and also
  represents the views of members.
• Provide a variety of Web-based resources to raise awareness of advances in
  relation to Health and Wellbeing.
• Maintain a live database to enable members to network effectively and that has a
  variety of levels of access to the Network.

Membership

Membership is open to healthcare workers who are interested in the development of the Health and Wellbeing approach or are actively involved in advancing this in health care.

Conclusion

The increasing research and knowledge base regarding the physical health needs of patients with severe mental illness has led to development of innovative practice within mental health. The Scottish Health and Wellbeing Network has been set up to support, promote and further develop good practice, as well as raising the profile of the physical health needs of this client group both locally and nationally. It has been agreed that a funding application should be made to the Queens Nursing Institute Scotland for seed funding to facilitate a national conference to be organized and held to enable the network to develop and attract a wider membership from the various professionals involved in the care of those people who have mental ill health.

For further information, contact David Law, David.Lawglacomen.scot.nhs.uk

References

Connolly, M. Kelly, C. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 2005, vol.11.125–13
BMJ-Metabolic Syndrome 2005, vol.331:1153–1154
Day J C, Wood G, Dewey M, Bentall R Br J Psychiatry 1995 A self rating scale for measuring neuroleptic side-effects. Validation in a group of schizophrenic patients.166, 650–653
Hogan TP, Awad AG, Eastwood R, A self report scale predictive of drug comp[liance in schizophrenics: reliability and discriminative validity. Psychological Med 13, 177–183.
Kendrick, T. Br J Psychiatry 1996; 169:733–9
Taylor D, et al. The South London and Maudsley NHS Trust 2003 prescribing guidelines, 7th ed London: Martin Dunitz Taylor and Francis Group; 2003.
The International Diabetes Foundation, Definition of metabolic syndrome, www.idf.org; April 2005 – see http://www.idf.org/webdata/docs/IDF_Metasyndrome_definition.pdf
BMA. Investing in general practice: the new general medical services contract, London: BMA; 2003.