Psychosis & Schizophrenia In Adults

The Quality Standard for Psychosis and Schizophrenia was published on the 25th February 2015. This conference focuses in implementing the NICE Quality Standard in practice with sessions focusing on the eight quality statements. Through expert sessions, updates from specialist committee member who produced the standard at NICE, and case studies the conference will provide an essential guide to delivering the standard in your service.

Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Health and Social Care for NICE, said: “Psychosis and the specific diagnosis of schizophrenia are serious mental illnesses that have debilitating symptoms and can affect all aspects of a person’s life. Many people with severe mental illness will also suffer from additional health problems, like heart disease and diabetes, which can significantly affect how long they live. Other symptoms such as a lack of drive or social withdrawal, means they might also struggle to contribute to society. We are seeing improvements in mental health services but there is still some way to go before we can be sure that all people with psychosis and schizophrenia are getting high-quality care. There are certain areas such as offering health checks, providing access to psychological therapies and employment support, where we know more still needs to be done to drive improvements in care. With this new quality standard we want to highlight what health and social care services need to prioritise to make sure all people with psychosis and schizophrenia are getting the care they need and deserve.” NICE, 12th February 2015

Sessions will focus on the new quality standard, early intervention, preventing psychosis and treating people at risk, the use of antipsychotic medication and how to identify appropriate medications in a collaborative way, improving peoples experience of services, improving the physical health and reducing side effects which is a key national goal of parity of esteem, the role of cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis, ensuring a recovery focused approach, improving crisis services and learning from the national audit of schizophrenia.