Mental and physical illness may be linked

The study found health and social services are failing to tackle high rates of disease among people with severe mental illness.

They have higher levels of heart disease, respiratory illness and diabetes.

The charity Mentality, which carried out the research, wants health checks to be standard for mentally ill people.

Simple measures can make all the difference to improving the quality of life for people with mental illness Elizabeth Gale

People with severe mental illness are almost twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease as the general population and four times more likely to die from respiratory disease.

A person with schizophrenia can expect to live for 10 years less than someone without a mental health problem.

The report shows that people with mental illness are far more concerned about their physical health than professionals believe them to be.

It shows that there is a high level of frustration with services and a lack of information and support available to people with mental illness on a range of issues from smoking cessation to healthy eating.

Tailored programmes

Elizabeth Gale, acting chief executive of Mentality, said: "If we want to tackle the inequalities in the current health care system then a good place to start would be with improving physical health care services for people with mental illness.

"In our research people who use mental health services believe that once they receive their psychiatric diagnosis all their physical health needs are ignored and either considered to be part of their mental illness or a possible side effect of their medication.

"Either way people are losing out and the system is failing them."

Ms Gale said health professionals must address the physical health needs of people with mental illness.

She said there were good examples where this had already been done.

For instance, smoking cessation programmes have been shown to be more effective when tailored specifically for people with mental illness.

Ms Gale said: "Health information should be offered as a regular part of an individual's care.

"And regular checks for heart disease, diabetes, obesity and the side-effects of medication should be carried out as standard.

"Simple measures can make all the difference to improving the quality of life for people with mental illness."

Paul Corry, of the mental health charity Rethink, said the new GP contract contained financial incentives for GPs to make sure that people get proper physical health check ups.

But he said: "In our experience, people with a severe mental illness often press for better physical health care but find their concerns dismissed by poorly trained health professionals who regard their physical symptoms as manifestations of their mental illness."