AS part of its Mental Health Month that has been running throughout October, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, the county’s main provider of community and mental health services, held an event to raise awareness of the importance of ensuring mental and physical health issues are treated equally.

On Friday, October 24,approximately 100 people, both healthcare professionals and members of the public, attended the trust’s event at the Charles Hastings Education Centre at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The event featured talks from Dr David Shiers, GP and former joint leader of the UK’s National Early Intervention in Psychosis Programme, Dr Anthony Kelly, clinical chair of South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Dr Alan Farmer, consultant psychiatrist with the North Worcestershire early intervention team, Professor Jo Smith, consultant clinical psychologist and professor of early intervention in psychosis and Marie Band, nurse prescriber. The speakers highlighted how poor physical health and poor mental health can be highly connected.

For example poor physical health has a major impact on mental stability. Depression is twice as likely to occur in adults with Type I and Type II Diabetes, while evidence also suggests that asthmatics are up to six times more likely to have anxiety disorders.

The interaction between physical and mental health also works in reverse. The prevalence of physical health problems is rising faster in people with mental health problems than in the general population. For example, figures show that young people with Psychosis have a premature death rate nearly four times higher than the general population and die 15-20 years earlier due to a mixture of factors including lifestyle (smoking, poor diet, alcohol intake) and medication which can lead to weight gain.

Professor Smith used the event to showcase a particular programme, unique to Worcestershire and held up as an example of best practice across the UK, which aims to promote healthier lifestyles for younger people affected by mental illness. The SHAPE (Supporting Health and Promoting Exercise) programme was launched in July 2014 precisely to tackle the physical determinants which set people with a mental illness on a pathway to poor health and premature death.

SHAPE is run in a partnership between Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, the University of Worcester, Worcestershire County Council’s Public Health Department and South Worcestershire CCG, and is funded by the Health Foundation's Shine programme.

Dr Alan Farmer also presented figures that showed that young people with psychosis working with the North Worcestershire Early Intervention Team are healthier than people in the general population of a similar age and have significantly less weight problems when compared to people with recent onset of psychosis.