How to provide holistic care

If you work in a Physical Health Care settings it is likely that you are prepared to encounter physical health concerns and trained to know how to help the people who present to your service.

However, patients who present at your service with a physical health problem may also be struggling with a mental health condition that you can’t see. According to research ‘30% of people with long-term physical health conditions, such as diabetes, arthritis or heart problems’, also have a mental health condition, such as depression or anxiety.  

Recognising the link between physical and mental health concerns, the King’s Health Partners Mind & Body programme commissioned the ‘Integrating Mental and Physical Healthcare: Research, Training and Service (IMPARTS) project, to help make people’s mental health a part of the conversation when attending physical health appointments.  

A significant part of the project is education - IMPARTS delivers training programmes to support staff to feel more able to provide joined up care which focuses on the whole person. Their practical 5-day course - Mental health skills for non-mental health professionals - helps clinicians working in physical health settings.  

The course covers the most common mental health problems encountered in the general hospital setting and trains clinicians to identify and approach mental health needs. With the skills developed through this course participants can help to improve health outcomes for their patients.    

The teaching for this course is interactive, including role plays with actors, and supplemented by online material. Clinicians working in physical healthcare settings are eligible to apply for the IMPARTS course, this includes physiotherapists, nurses, doctors and other allied health professionals.  

The five-day course starts on 26 September 2023 and there is still time to apply. Click here to register. There are a number of funded spaces available for staff at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust. For more information about these spaces please contact aymie.backler@kcl.ac.uk. Participants for the course will gain CPD certification and for people studying an MSc the course can also be offered as a Level 7 15 credit module.