“What struck me most was how important it is that we fight for people’s right to have a good service for our physical health and that having a mental health problem shouldn’t bar people from receiving this.” – MWH Champion
On the 25th of January, the hub hosted Frances Simpson from Support in Mind Scotland for a focus group on their Equally Fit campaign with Bipolar Scotland, highlighting the inequalities those with mental illness face in terms of their physical health.
This work is was launched at a national conference last year and is founded on shocking statistics such as:
Scots suffering from mental ill health die on average up to 20 years earlier than the general population.
Focus group reflections:
This was an open focus group and advertised for those with personal experience to attend as well as carers and supporters like health professionals. Unfortunately, it was not a strong turn out which surprised us at the hub as we expected this to be an issue for many of those passionate about supporting equality. We took this to be a sign that there is much more we need to do in raising the profile locally about the rights for those with mental illness diagnosis and the shocking discrepancies between their health care and that of others without a diagnosis.
Those who did attend (total of six of us) were all existing Champions for the hub and a very useful session followed, with Frances keen to let us know about the work so far of the project.
As one Champion reflected, “We were a small group for this focus group but for all that we had a very good discussion. It seemed a common theme as to how people who have a diagnosis of some kind of mental ill health frequently have their physical health ignored or downplayed by GPs. I have known people who felt that their GP did not take their physical health complaints seriously because they had a mental health problem. This is clearly gross discrimination. Not only that but people were reluctant to return to the GP when the physical health issue did not ‘clear up’.”
As well as having physical health issues overlooked, “I’m not trusted to take care of my mental health.” Pointed out another attendee.
“People with mental health problems frequently have issues around self-stigma that stops us from speaking up for ourselves. Support in Mind have produced a very good Charter from the voices of people with lived experience of mental health problems. It’s produced in the form of a very succinct and attractive pamphlet which really captures a lot of issues.”
You can read more about the charter on the project’s facebook page.
Frances also shared her reflections with us, “I am pleased I was invited as it was a great opportunity to share Equally Fit as it concerns an issue that is really one of my personal priorities as well as being so important to the people we support.
I found the session inspiring as other people’s honesty about their situation that they were willing to share with someone whom they had never met, set a tone of trust and openness from the start and this enabled me to feel as though I could also be open and share my own views. I was encouraged by the way what we have done chimed with so many of the experiences expressed today – I feel really motivated by the positive response and the confidence you showed in the Charter. I feel more able to share this even more widely with other local groups.
Finally I am excited by the fact that there is a local change network that we can work with – it is so healthy and positive to be adding to work that is already ongoing and feeling as though we are somehow part of what you are doing; rather than trying to develop or create something that people in Elgin don’t know about of don’t want. I think there is joint work we can do, led by local people, and I will help in any way I can.”
Next steps:
Frances, along with the full agreement of all who attended, was keen for us as Champions to take the work forward. We discussed ideas on promoting advanced statements locally and highlighting a need for people to know their rights in terms of access to health care.
The hub will report back on this as our work continues and we welcome anyone who would like to help us further awareness of the charter and rights work around health in Moray to get in touch.
