Mental Health SIG virtual meeting 5th February 2021
Members of the SAPC Mental Health Special Interest Group (MH SIG) ‘met’ virtually for an hour on 5th February 2021. This informal meeting was attended by 13 primary care academics. The aim of these virtual meetings is to bring together academics with an interest in primary care mental health in order to discuss ideas for future research, present ongoing work and provide a forum for support.
During this meeting, we shared ‘positives’ since our last meeting in October 2020, gave time for members to discuss issues they wanted to receive support and advice on, and offered the opportunity to members to present work in progress.
Cathy Morgan, from Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre presented her work on ‘multiple adverse outcomes amongst individuals with and eating disorder’. This CPRD work was well received and stimulated much discussion. Cathy reflected that it had been very valuable to receive feedback from clinicians and health service researchers on the findings and implications of her analysis.
Ian Maidment, who co-leads the Medicines Optimisation SIG, presented his thoughts on the importance of medicines optimisation in mental health and the role of the pharmacy team in working with GPs and patients. Members of the group described research that they were involved in, in this area, and discussed ideas for future research. The tension, in community pharmacy, of ‘retail versus health’ was raised.
Everyone was reminded about the Primary Care Mental Health Conference, which is being held online on 26th May 2021. Deadline for abstract submission is 26th February 2021. Registration is free for SAPC members.
The next meeting of the MH SIG will be held online on the 9th June 2.30-3.30pm. We hope members can make it. If anyone wants to discuss their research ideas, research in progress or early findings, please let us know.
With all good wishes,
Katrina and Carolyn