Equity of Access – people with severe mental illness and physical health checks

It is recognised nationally that more needs to be done to ensure people with SMI receive their annual health check, however little is known about the equity of access to a ‘complete’ physical health check for people with SMI.

In 2024 the Health Innovation Network South London (HIN) were commissioned by the Cavendish Square Group, to carry out an analysis to identify which demographic groups within the SMI cohort at the nine London mental health trusts may be more likely to miss or have an incomplete annual physical health check. The demographics of interest included gender, age, ethnicity, deprivation, and SMI diagnosis.

Cavendish Square Group

‘We are really pleased to see this report, although the findings remain problematic and with too much cross-organisation variation. However, they underline our commitment to work together, at scale and across traditional barriers and boundaries; to have the courage to show our data even when they are not as good as we would like; and to commit to learning from each other with the end goal of improving patient outcomes’.

Read the full report here.