The School of Allied Health Professions (AHP) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) is taking a leading role in highlighting the importance of understanding participation for building healthy lives.

We are fortunate to be able to offer an exciting programme of interdisciplinary local and national events in dialogue with the eminent Fulbright Senior Scholar David Horton Smith, as Visiting Professor of Altruis-tics and Community Engagement in the School of Allied Health Professions. This is especially relevant in the year when UEA celebrates its 50th Anniversary and contribution to the wider community.

These events have emerged through and aim to strengthen partnerships involving the following organisations: Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector (ARVAC), Norwich Business School (NBS) at UEA, the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences Enterprise (FMHE) at UEA, UEA Community-University Engagement (CUE), and the Norfolk and Suffolk Dementia Alliance. Full details of the events, including information about follow-up masterclasses, and topic discussions, can be found at www.uea.ac.uk/ahp/fulbright-programme2013.
To register, please see our website at : www.uea.ac.uk/ahp/fulbright-programme2013

Achieving parity between mental and physical health

In our society mental health does not receive the same attention as physical health. People with mental health problems frequently experience stigma and discrimination, not only in the wider community but also from services. This is exemplified in part by lower treatment rates for mental health conditions and an underfunding of mental healthcare relative to the scale and impact of mental health problems.

There is an ambition for the NHS to put mental health on a par with physical health.  However, the concept of parity in this context is not always well understood. In this report, an expert working group defines ‘parity of esteem’ in detail, and examines why parity between mental and physical health does not currently exist and how it might be achieved in practice.

Read more on the RCPsych web portal

Read more on the recommendations for Research.

The National Institute for Health Research’s Annual Report published on 4 April 2013, details the NIHR’s activities from April 2011 to March 2012.

CLAHRC CP is mentioned in Research Highlights on page 41.

Download a copy of the report by clicking on the image

A report from the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Psychiatrists has found that smoking in people with mental health conditions is neglected by the NHS.

Read more 

A study by academics at the University of Bristol and funded by the Department of Health has found that people with learning disabilities are more likely to have a premature death than the general population.   Men with learning disabilities were found, on average, to die 13 years younger than the general population, with women with learning disabilities dying 20 years earlier.  More information can be found here.