Physical Health Clinic

Project overview

The Physical Health Clinic was a 2-year pilot project focused on delivery of an in-reach physical health service delivered by a Consultant Physician from King’s College Hospital based within acute mental health wards at Maudsley and Lambeth hospitals.

Here is an overview of the project approach, outcomes and learnings.

You can also read about the project findings further below.

It’s a positive impact on standard of care…I think it probably reduces referrals to other services. For instance, we had a smoker, anaemia, cough. We were concerned about malignancy. So, we did a Physical Health Clinic referral, and they told us what investigations were needed then ordered all the investigations from the ward rather than having to refer to respiratory clinic.

- Experience from a Junior Doctor using this service.

Project outputs/outcomes

Embedding the intervention into routine practice

Due to the successful delivery of this project and the benefits its provided, the IMPHS team has secured funding to continue the physical health clinic at South London and Maudsley NHS FT.

Webinar

In February 2023, the IMPHS team successfully delivered a live public webinar to broadcast the outcomes and learning from the Physical Health Clinic project. Watch the full webinar below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWVQRMmRIp4&list=PLd-YtZ5skxS9UetgsdoqlJOZM9nz3ckkR&index=6

Academic evaluation

Alongside delivery of the intervention, the IMPHS team gathered data on the uptake, use and outcomes generated as a result of staff using the clinic. This evaluation was conducted with the support of colleagues from the Centre for Implementation Science at King’s College London, and resulted in additional health economic analysis of the intervention on behalf of the Trust.

Click here to view the protocol for this evaluation.

Learn more about IMPHS and its other projects here.