Implementing guidelines on physical health in the acute mental health setting: a quality improvement approach.

BACKGROUND: In the UK, life expectancy for people living with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, is reduced by 15-20 years compared with the general population. In recent years, evidence based guidelines/policies designed to improve their physical health have been published, yet a gap remains between recommendations and practice. This case study describes how guidelines to support physical health were implemented using a quality improvement approach. CASE PRESENTATION: A quasi-experimental study explored systems and processes for assessing the physical health of patients admitted to an acute mental health unit. The multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals, service users and experts in quality improvement methods developed solutions to improve the assessment of physical health, drawing on existing guidelines/policies as well as professional and lived experience. Three key interventions were developed: a comprehensive physical health assessment; a patient-held physical health booklet; and education and training for staff and patients. Interventions were co-designed by front-line healthcare staff and service users with iterative development and implementation through Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Real-time weekly data were reported on five measures over a 15-month implementation period (318 patients) and compared to a 10-month baseline period (247 patients) to gauge the success of the implementation of the physical health assessment. Improvements were seen in the numbers of patients receiving a physical health assessment: 81.3% (201/247) vs 96.9% (308/318), recording of body mass index: 21.55% (53/247) vs 58.6% (204/318) and systolic blood pressure: 22.35% (55/247) vs 75.9% (239/318) but a reduction in the recording of smoking status: 80.1% (198/247) vs 70.9% (225/318). However, 31.7% (118/318) patients had a cardiovascular risk-score documented in the implementation phase, compared to none in the baseline. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the use of a quality improvement approach to support teams to implement guidelines on physical health in the acute mental health setting. Reflections of the team have identified the need for resources, training, support and leadership to support changes to the way care is delivered. Furthermore, collaborations between service users and frontline clinical staff can co-design interventions to support improvements and raise awareness of the physical health needs of this population.

Cognitive-behaviour therapy for health anxiety in medical patients (CHAMP): a randomised controlled trial with outcomes to 5 years.

BACKGROUND: Health anxiety is an under-recognised but frequent cause of distress that is potentially treatable, but there are few studies in secondary care. OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a modified form of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) for health anxiety (CBT-HA) compared with standard care in medical outpatients. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Five general hospitals in London, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 444 patients aged 16-75 years seen in cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology and respiratory medicine clinics who scored ≥ 20 points on the Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) and satisfied diagnostic requirements for hypochondriasis. Those with current psychiatric disorders were excluded, but those with concurrent medical illnesses were not. INTERVENTIONS: Cognitive-behaviour therapy for health anxiety - between 4 and 10 1-hour sessions of CBT-HA from a health professional or psychologist trained in the treatment. Standard care was normal practice in primary and secondary care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary - researchers masked to allocation assessed patients at baseline, 3, 6, 12, 24 months and 5 years. The primary outcome was change in the HAI score between baseline and 12 months. Main secondary outcomes - costs of care in the two groups after 24 and 60 months, change in health anxiety (HAI), generalised anxiety and depression [Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)] scores, social functioning using the Social Functioning Questionnaire and quality of life using the EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), at 6, 12, 24 and 60 months, and deaths over 5 years. RESULTS: Of the 28,991 patients screened over 21 months, 5769 had HAI scores of ≥ 20 points. Improvement in HAI scores at 3 months was significantly greater in the CBT-HA group (mean number of sessions = 6) than in the standard care, and this was maintained over the 5-year period (overall p < 0.0001), with no loss of efficacy between 2 and 5 years. Differences in the generalised anxiety (p = 0.0018) and depression scores (p = 0.0065) on the HADS were similar in both groups over the 5-year period. Gastroenterology and cardiology patients showed the greatest CBT gains. The outcomes for nurses were superior to those of other therapists. Deaths (n = 24) were similar in both groups; those in standard care died earlier than those in CBT-HA. Patients with mild personality disturbance and higher dependence levels had the best outcome with CBT-HA. Total costs were similar in both groups over the 5-year period (£12,590.58 for CBT-HA; £13,334.94 for standard care). CBT-HA was not cost-effective in terms of quality-adjusted life-years, as measured using the EQ-5D, but was cost-effective in terms of HAI outcomes, and offset the cost of treatment. LIMITATIONS: Many eligible patients were not randomised and the population treated may not be representative. CONCLUSIONS: CBT-HA is a highly effective treatment for pathological health anxiety with lasting benefit over 5 years. It also improves generalised anxiety and depressive symptoms more than standard care. The presence of personality abnormality is not a bar to successful outcome. CBT-HA may also be cost-effective, but the high costs of concurrent medical illnesses obscure potential savings. This treatment deserves further research in medical settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN14565822. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 21, No. 50. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Cognitive behaviour therapy for non-cardiac pain in the chest (COPIC): a multicentre randomized controlled trial with economic evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Most patients with chest pain have nothing wrong with their cardiac function. Psychological forms of treatment for this condition are more likely to be successful than others. METHODS/DESIGN: A two-arm parallel controlled randomized trial of standard care versus a modified form of cognitive behaviour therapy for chest pain (CBT-CP) in patients who have attended emergency hospital services. Inclusion criteria include (i) emergency attendance more than once in the previous year with chest pain when no physical pathology has been found, (ii) aged between 16 and 75, (iii) signed consent to take part in the study. Exclusion criteria are (i) under current psychiatric care, (ii) those who have had new psychotropic drugs prescribed within the last two months, (iii) are receiving or about to receive a formal psychological treatment. Those satisfying these criteria will be randomized to 4-10 sessions of CBT-CP or to continue with standard care. Participants are randomized using a remote web-based system using permuted stacked blocks stratified by study centre. Assessment is carried out at baseline by researchers subsequently masked to allocation and at 6 months and 1 year after randomization. The primary outcome is the Health Anxiety Inventory score at 6 months, and secondary outcomes are generalised anxiety and depressive symptoms, the Lucock Health Anxiety Questionnaire adapted for chest pain, visual analogue scales for chest pain and discomfort (Inskip Scale), the Schedule for Evaluating Persistent Symptoms (SEPS), health related quality of life, social functioning and medical resource usage. Intention to treat analyses will be carried out with clinical and functioning data, and a cost-utility analysis will compare differences in total costs and differences in quality of life using QALYs derived from the EQ-5D. The data will also be linked to another parallel study in New Zealand where 126 patients with the same inclusion criteria have been treated in a similar trial; the form of analysis of the combined data has yet to be determined. DISCUSSION: The morbidity and costs of non-cardiac chest pain are substantial and if a simple psychological treatment given by health professionals working in medical departments is beneficial it should prove to be of great value. Combining data with a similar study in New Zealand is an additional asset. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN14711101 (registered 05/03/2015).

Prevalence of health anxiety problems in medical clinics.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of significant health anxiety (hypochondriasis) in patients aged 16-75 in cardiology, respiratory medicine, neurological, endocrine and gastrointestinal clinics in general hospitals in London, Middlesex and North Nottinghamshire. METHOD: The Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) (short form) was administered to patients attending the five clinics over a 21 month period and all those who scored 20 or more invited to take part in a further assessment for a randomised controlled trial. RESULTS: Of 43,205 patients attending the clinics 28,991 (67.1%) were assessed and of these, after exclusion of ineligible patients 5747 (19.8%) had significant health anxiety. 444 subsequently agreed to take part in a randomised controlled trial of treatment. The prevalence levels varied by clinic with neurology (24.7%) having the highest prevalence followed by respiratory medicine (20.9%), gastroenterology (19.5%), cardiology (19.1%), and endocrinology (17.5%). CONCLUSION: Abnormal health anxiety is common and a significant problem in those attending medical clinics and deserves greater awareness.