Dr Siobhan Reilly, Principal Investigator for East Lancashire, talking about the research we have done for the PARTNERS2 study.
Our previous research suggests that around 70% of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar have other health conditions. We also found that despite their health issues, these people generally received poorer care than people without these diagnoses.
People with ongoing mental health needs often report decreased quality of life, and social needs which are often unmet.
We have designed the PARTNERS Service with all this in mind. We piloted it in three sites and made some changes based upon the feedback we received. We found people liked the service which was really pleasing to hear. We hope that it will provide a better approach to improving peoples lives and the physical and mental health of people with ongoing mental health needs. But, we do not know this without testing it. This is why we are doing a research study which will look at the effectiveness of the new PARTNERS service compared to usual NHS care.
Click here to go to 'Why every person involved is important'