Health Services Management Research > Volume 22, Number 4 > Pp. 158-162

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Everybody's business: from policy to lived practice – the benefits of embedding specialist mental health workers in physical health-care systems

Jessica Read ^*  and Tresa Andrews 

* Salford Intermediate Care Services, Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester; Southwark Mental Health Intermediate Care Team, South London & Maudsley Mental Health Foundation Trust, London, UK

E-mail: Jessica.read{at}gmw.nhs.uk

As Britain's population ages, health- and social-care systems face the challenge of continuing to provide high-quality care in the face of increased demand on services. Government policy has proposed meeting this challenge through integrated partnership working to enable people with complex, multiple needs to receive timely care closer to home. Co-morbid mental health needs, including dementia, are common in people with physical health issues, and must be addressed appropriately if systems are to provide the best possible all-round patient care. This paper describes how two senior clinical psychologists have developed an embedded living mental health resource within physical health care, and demonstrates how this has directly and positively impacted on both service performance indicators and patient experience.

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