Physical Health Assessment Screen and Intervene Service for People with Severe Mental Illness - West Sussex

This notice details the intention to award a contract under the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) 2023 - Direct Award Process C. The service seeks to improve outcomes for people living with Severe Mental Illness (SMI). The life expectancy for people with SMI is 15-20 years lower than the general population. This disparity in health outcomes is partly due to physical health needs being overlooked. This service will seek to address the following key areas amongst others: • Smoking is the largest avoidable cause of premature death, with more than 40% of adults with SMI smoking. • Individuals with SMI also have double the risk of obesity and diabetes, three times the risk of hypertension and metabolic syndrome, and five times the risk of dyslipidaemia (imbalance of lipids in the bloodstream) than the general population. The service ensures individuals living with SMI are consistently offered appropriate and timely physical health assessments despite their higher risk of poor physical health. Individuals are supported to use available health information and offered advice or to take up tests and interventions that reduce the risk of preventable health conditions. The service works proactively with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to generate referrals for people on their Practice SMI Registers. The key target groups being those who need support to attend/engage with the Physical Health Check (PHC) and those having been identified as likely to benefit from Health Improvement intervention as a result of the PHC. Referrals originate predominantly from PCNs/Practices; however, referrals from other agencies are acceptable should people meet the qualifying diagnosis.