Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe a metabolic risk assessment programme that was established by community mental health teams working within one locality of a District Health Board in Auckland.
Conclusions: Physical health disparities between people with serious mental illness and the general population are of great concern. We have described a systematic way to engage with clients about the prevention of two important contributors to these disparities: cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. Around 15% of all adult service users of the mental health service in the locality attended this metabolic risk assessment clinic in the first 12 months of its operation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was sponsored by Waitemata District Health Board District Mental Health Services through an unrestricted research grant. The authors would like to thank all research participants for providing valuable feedback on their experiences of and thoughts about metabolic risk assessment with mental health service users in the locality.
DISCLOSURE
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.