Welcome to episode 171 [originally broadcast on Wednesday 23 October 2024] of #mhTV​​​​​​​​. This week Nicky Lambert and Vanessa Gilmartin spoke with guest Linda Pert about Physical and mental health - Nutrition, sleep and hydration LP - I qualified as a mental health nurse in 1994 in Plymouth. From 1997 I spent over 20 years working in high secure forensic services at Rampton Hospital, I moved to the community setting in 2018 and worked in Bed Management, Crisis Team, Street Triage and a Community Mental Health Team within Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. I have just reached the end of my training to be an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) with Sheffield Hallam University, whilst working in a Community Mental Health Team for Notts Healthcare. I have a new challenge ahead as I am about to return to the ward environment with a new role as an ACP on a psychiatric intensive care unit with Solent NHS Trust. I have a passion for research and sit as Vice Chair on the Chief Nursing Officers Shared Professional Decision Making Council for Research. My specific interest is identifying service gaps and developing ways to address them in my work and that of my team. I have recently written and delivered a training package for my masters dissertation with the aim to improve the physical health of those under our care. My idea is for a bottom-up approach where mental health practitioners engage with patients in such a way as to start to address the real fact that SMI patients die an average of 20 years too soon. Mental and physical health are inextricably linked and I believe we need to have this holistic view in all our patient interactions. It doesn’t require much of a change in our approach, just a little extra knowledge and confidence and a curiosity about all aspects of our patients life and lifestyle. Some X links to follow are: VG - https://x.com/VanessaRNMH NL - https://x.com/niadla​​​​​​​​ DM - https://x.com/davidamunday Credits: #mhTV Presenters: Vanessa Gilmartin, Nicky Lambert & David Munday Guest: Linda Pert Theme music: Tony Gillam Production & Editing: David Munday