Valuing physical and mental health equally, Parity of Esteem in Wessex Dr Lesley Stevens Director of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities

What is parity of esteem? NHSE: “My family and I all have access to services which enable us to maintain both our mental and physical wellbeing.” “If I become unwell I use services which assess and treat mental health disorders or conditions on a par with physical health illnesses.”

What is parity of esteem? Royal College of Psychiatrists: ‘Valuing mental health equally with physical health’. Martin McShane NHSE Director for LTCs: …parity of esteem means tackling mental health issues with the same energy and priority as we have tackled physical illness.

Why is it important? People with serious mental illness die earlier than those with no SMI Almost half of people with SMI have a physical health long term condition, and around 1/3 with LTCs have a mental illness – resulting in worse outcomes and higher cost Only half of those with terminal illness and depression receive treatment for their depression. Persisting institutional discrimination against mental health services

Parity of Esteem in Wessex 5 Year Strategic Vision to embed parity of esteem in all healthcare settings Priorities include: –Improving physical health care for people with SMI – eg Wessex Health Passport, and extending cancer screening and smoking cessation programmes to engage people with SMI –Delivery of the Crisis Concordat

What can we do? Focus on the whole person in their unique context Develop bio-psycho-social models of care across all parts of the health and social care provision, supported by: –Education and training –Commissioning –Clinical pathways –Research –Co-production with people who use services Integration and Partnership working across primary care, acute, community and mental health providers, social care, police, third sector etc…..