03 April 2017

For immediate publication

Going mobile in Milton Keynes

Recovery staff in Milton Keynes are going "mobile" to check on the physical health of people with mental health conditions.

They are visiting patients from community mental health services at their homes to take various health checks, such as blood pressure, blood tests and discussing lifestyle choices at the same time as care co-ordinators visit patients to check their mental health.

The aim is to support people to adapt to the idea of having physical health checks in mental health services.

The physical health clinics were set up for the community mental health services clients within the Recovery Service, which encompasses those from Recovery and Rehab, Assertive Outreach and Early Intervention at both the Westcroft Health Centre and the Campbell Centre in Milton Keynes . Long term the aim is to run clinics across all of Milton Keynes for all service users in addition to setting up healthy lifestyle groups and interventions

So far about 100 people in Milton Keynes have had these checks.

People with severe mental illness die, on average, 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population. Historically they have had poor access to physical health care and are more likely to have lifestyle risk factors that contribute to heart disease and diabetes.

These are considered key to helping patients avoid early death due to conditions such as cardiovascular disease, lung disease and liver disease.

Sarah Higgins, Team Manager of the Recovery Service in Milton Keynes, said: "The staff here are working really hard to promote good physical health to our service users and although progress has not been fast as we would have liked, we are starting to see engagement.

"Service users have told us that having the checks and someone taking an interest in their physical health is ‘refreshing', ‘helpful' and a number of service users admitted to being quite anxious about their physical health and the checks being reassuring and positive."