Severe mental health in Northern Ireland, service provision and physical health outcomes: a scoping review of evidence and policy protocol.

The aim of this protocol is to define the search strategy of a scoping review of the literature on severe mental illness in Northern Ireland, with particular interest in research that highlights service provision, social exclusion, and physical health outcomes. A literature search will be undertaken to identify empirical and descriptive publications relating to integrated care of the physical health of people with SMI in Northern Ireland. This scoping review will map the available evidence and highlight areas of knowledge as well as gaps for future research.

The scoping review is part of CHOICE, an AHRC-funded project that seeks to build a wide network of people and organisations – a community coalition – to tackle the issues of social exclusion and poor physical health among people living with severe and enduring mental health problems. This requires a whole-systems approach that engages key public, private and voluntary stakeholders while placing people living with mental health illness at the centre of co-design activities and ideas.