Posted by ed_uk on July 1, 2005, at 12:01:21
Health care professionals need to address all the health-related issues experienced by people with severe mental illness (SMI), not just the mental illness itself, according to a report published this week.
“Running on empty” states that people with SMI have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and HIV or AIDS than the general population, and that they die between 10 to 15 years earlier. It says that there is an urgent need to ensure they are treated holistically by all health care professionals.
The report says that people affected by SMI are often not given routine assessments such as blood pressure or blood glucose tests and are not provided with weight management or lifestyle advice.
Sandra Gidley, a pharmacist and MP for Romsey, said that implementation of the new pharmacy contract puts pharmacists in an ideal position to carry out such health checks. She commented: “This group of people are generally regarded as hard to reach, yet they access pharmacies regularly. This is an ideal opportunity for pharmacists to widen their expertise and engage with what is a neglected section of society that people do not go out of their way to understand.”
David Yeomans, consultant psychiatrist at the University of Leeds and a contributor to the report, added that pharmacists could present the case studies contained in the report to their primary care trusts as examples of good practice when bidding for funding to extend their services.
Regarding medication, the report advises that patients with SMI should be aware of any side effects their medicines may have and be provided with advice on how to manage them. It says that alternative options should always be discussed and attempted if the side effects are considered to be unacceptable by the patient or the prescriber.
poster:ed_uk
thread:521950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050627/msgs/521950.html