As a result of research through the King’s Health Partners IMPARTS (Integrated Mental and Physical Healthcare Research Training and Services) programme, the Limb Reconstruction Unit at KCH has had a long held view confirmed: patients undergoing reconstruction surgery have a real need for access to psychological care.
Because of limitations in hospital budgets, Rebuild agreed to fund a support service in the department. The service was developed with the assistance of Consultant Psychiatrist, Professor Matthew Hotopf, of King’s College London, and gives limb reconstruction patients access to a psychiatrist and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
At present, patient referrals to the service are needs-based and Rebuild enables around eight patients a week to be helped. Consultant orthopaedic surgeon and Chair of the charity, Sarah Phillips says:
This is another example of how Rebuild has been able to help our patients. Previously it intervened financially to recruit a specialist physiotherapist, part-funded her post and demonstrated her value to patients to the satisfaction of the Health Authority who now employ her directly. On this occasion, for the psychiatric counselling service, the charity plugged the gap for the funding until it was taken over by the hospital in 2015. Rebuild now hopes to be able to expand the service to orthopaedic patients admitted through the Major Trauma Centre (MTC).
Integrating Mental & Physical Healthcare: Research, Training & Services (IMPARTS) is an initiative funded by King’s Health Partners (KHP) to integrate mental and physical healthcare in research, training and clinical services at Guy’s, St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospitals, as well as South London and Maudesley NHS Foundation Trust.
The overall goal of IMPARTS is to improve mental healthcare provision within the medical settings across KHP.
The IMPARTS package for physical healthcare setting is designed to support clinical teams in providing timely, tailored, evidence-based care to patients presenting at King’s Healthcare Partners’ acute trusts.
The package has five components:
An informatics system that facilitates routine collection of patient-reported outcomes, with real-time feedback to guide clinical care.
Development of mental health care pathways for patients identified via the informatics system.
Training in core mental health skills for physical healthcare teams, alongside ongoing support and supervision from a mental healthcare specialist.
A portfolio of bespoke self-help materials tailored to specific patient groups.
A research database to facilitate research through the routine collection of patient reported outcomes in a medical setting.
An introduction to IMPARTS video
Fiona’s Story
For more information on IMPARTS, please click here.
How it works
All patients in the the Limb Reconstruction Unit are given a short psychological and physical assessment questionnaire on an iPad, to be completed whilst in the waiting room.
The results of this are fed in real time to the Electronic Patient Register (EPR), allowing the consultant during the appointment to discuss any concerns or issues, and to be able to refer the patient for further support as required.
Help sheets
Please click each title or image to view or download the help sheets: