title: Serious mental illness and the role of primary care.
abstract: Policies and guidelines from across the international community are attempting to galvanise action to address the unacceptably high morbidity and mortality rates amongst people with a serious mental illness (SMI). Primary care has a pivotal role to play in translating policy into evidence based practice in conjunction with other providers of health care services. This paper explores the current and potential of role of primary care providers in delivering health care to people with SMI. A review of research in the following key areas of primary health care provision is provided: access, screening and preventative care, routine monitoring and follow-up, diagnosis and delivery of treatments in accordance with guidelines and delivery of interventions. There is undoubtedly a need for further research to establish the effectiveness of primary care interventions and the organisation of services. Equally, understanding how primary care services can deliver high quality care and promoting effective working at the interface with other services must be priorities.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Primary Care, Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom, claire.planner@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Planner
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gask
authors.forename: Siobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reilly
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006694:Holistic Health / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards