About the programme

The mind and body are inseparable, and mental and physical health conditions are often connected. Integrating mental and physical healthcare services has the potential to vastly improve the care that patients receive and deliver better outcomes for patients and service users.

Watch our Mind & Body animation

Evidence shows that by joining up physical and mental healthcare, we can help someone to manage their different conditions, improve their health outcomes, and even prevent unnecessary health problems for some people by identifying risk early.

The Mind & Body programme wants to reduce the known health inequalities by for people living with long term physical health conditions and mental health conditions:

  • The average life expectancy for someone with a long-term mental health illness or learning disability is 15- 20 years shorter than for someone without.
  • 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.
  • Nearly half of all people with diagnosed mental illness also have at least one, and often more, long-term physical conditions.

The programme seeks to do this by:

  • Establishing what good mind and body care looks like;
  • Developing a mind and body approach to practice; and
  • Supporting organisations to achieve change and improvement in practice.

Key priorities for the programme are to develop new partnerships, test out new interventions and models of care, develop an evidence base for joined up mind and body care and to share our learning through the Mind & Body Improvement Network.

We are in the process of developing a refreshed strategy for the mind & body programme and look forward to sharing it in spring 2024.

King’s Health Partners recognises the importance of treating the patient as a whole person, and the impact that holistic, joined up and integrated mind and body care can have. The mind and body approach to delivering care is a golden thread that is embedded in all strategic priorities of King’s Health Partners.

Our website has a wealth of information and resources illustrating best practice and new innovations across our partnership in mind and body care. Browse the site for blogs, training opportunities and news. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email the team at mindandbody@slam.nhs.uk.