It is really important for people to look after their physical health and sometimes this doesn’t happen as much as it should. This is particularly an issue for people whose main experience of health services are with mental health services as this is not their main area of expertise.

We would like everyone with severe mental ill health to have a check on their physical health every year. The definition of severe mental illness is:
·         schizophrenia
·         bipolar affective disorder
·         other psychoses
·         people on lithium therapy.
This will help identify and deal with any side effects of medication or other health problems such as diabetes so they can be treated before they develop too much.  It should also help people identify what they can do to look after their health and wellbeing. 

The physical health checks will include things like blood pressure, cholesterol, how active people are and reviewing medication. You may have had a similar one in the past from your GP or practice nurse.

We’d like to know what you think about physical health checks so we can plan the best way of organising them and what other factors we need to consider.

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* 1. Are you the person with lived experience of mental health, or a supporter/carer?

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* 2. What is your mental health diagnosis, or what is the diagnosis of the person you support?

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* 3. Are you aware that people with severe mental illness should have a physical health check every year at their GP surgery?

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* 4. Have you had one of these yearly health checks?

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