Positive Lifestyle Team

The Positive Lifestyle Team is part of the Mental Health Network. The team was developed to administer and monitor clinical treatment to service users with severe mental illness who are currently stable and do not require Care Coordination and are not prescribed anti psychotic medication.

Please note: this service is only available in Preston, Chorley and South Ribble.

The team has now evolved further and has several distinct elements as detailed below.

Referrals received from the Community Mental Health Teams for persons with a severe mental illness

The team will provide physical health and wellbeing assessments as key to their working practice. Following assessment, individuals are signposted to appropriate services or offered interventions as available through the Positive Lifestyle Team (PLT). The Service users referred from Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) attend depot clinics with PLT if prescribed medication. Service users also have physical health and wellbeing assessments and quality of life assessments with follow up as required.

Oral antipsychotic caseload (nonprescribing GPs)

Service users who are only prescribed an oral antipsychotic medication but cannot be discharged back to their GP as the GP will not be prescribing the antipsychotic medication. The criteria for these service users is the same as for those on depot medication (Serious Mental Illness (SMI) diagnosis, stable for 6 months, none Care Programme Approach (CPA) agreeable to transfer).

Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar or other psychotic illness referrals from Primary Care

The referrals from GPs/Primary Care will be taken from each surgery in the locality who have signed up to the date sharing agreement. A rotation basis will identify which surgery is being seen and when. Service users are identified via a search related to SMI diagnosis. Those who are identified as being open to secondary mental health services will be removed from the data. Those remaining will be offered an appointment to complete the assessment. Service users referred in this way will be seen at their GP surgery and documentation will be via the EMIS Primary Care System. These service users will have a physical health assessment, quality of life assessment and review of previously identified mental health issues.

Clozapine caseload (Preston area only)

Patients who are prescribed Clozapine and who are residents in the Preston area are case managed by a practitioner within the Positive Lifestyle Team. Physical health monitoring including bloods and medication is completed by the Clinical Treatment Team (CTT). The patients remain open to a CMHT consultant attached to Preston CMHT.

Physical Health Monitoring – Anti Psychotic medications

Patients who take anti-psychotics may not meet the criteria for care under a Community Mental Health Team but will still require physical health monitoring under the Shared Care Protocol. Once the patient has had their initial blood screening and ECG and has been given a prescription they can be referred to PLT for physical health monitoring. After initial screening we will look at the level of risk and whether this can be managed within the PLT.

At the initial assessment, the patient is offered a physical health assessment, quality of life assessment, LUNSERS and full physical observations including bloods – these are repeated at 3 and 12 months. The GP is notified in writing of the outcome of the initial assessment. Patients are seen monthly to review their mental health and offer interventions as identified. The first 3 months of prescriptions are written by the Consultant Psychiatrist and must be collected from an LSCft base. Following this, GPs are contacted and requested that they take over the medication prescribing.

Should risk increase or if it becomes clear that more intense services are required then a referral will be made to the CMHT or Home Treatment Team (HTT). Patients are given contact details for these services along with the Wellbeing and Mental Health Helpline services in their initial contact and appointment letter.