Physical health of mentally ill people 'ignored'
Posted: 14 Oct 2015, 08:46copyright Newscast Online
People in England who have had mental health problems are five times as likely to be admitted to hospital as an emergency as those who have not, a study shows.
But the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation think tanks found most admissions were for physical ailments.
Researchers said the findings suggested the NHS was too often treating mental health conditions in isolation.
Overall, just 20% of admissions were explicitly linked to mental health.
Instead, mental health patients were more likely to be admitted as an emergency for what are usually routine problems like hip replacements.
The think tanks looked at more than 100 million hospital records between 2009-10 and 2013-14 for people with mental health problems and those without.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34520636
People in England who have had mental health problems are five times as likely to be admitted to hospital as an emergency as those who have not, a study shows.
But the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation think tanks found most admissions were for physical ailments.
Researchers said the findings suggested the NHS was too often treating mental health conditions in isolation.
Overall, just 20% of admissions were explicitly linked to mental health.
Instead, mental health patients were more likely to be admitted as an emergency for what are usually routine problems like hip replacements.
The think tanks looked at more than 100 million hospital records between 2009-10 and 2013-14 for people with mental health problems and those without.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34520636