Negative attitudes of doctors were identified toward certain mental illness diagnoses and are likely to contribute the physical health disparity between patients with and without a comorbid mental illness. This raises the question as to how these attitudes can be changed in order to improve the parity of physical health care between patient with and without mental illness.

The cases discussed highlighted several areas where the quality of care received by patients with co-morbid mental illness is lacking, the consequences of which could be contributing to physical health disparities. It was acknowledged that it is the dual responsibility of both the general hospital staff and liaison staff in improving care.

A 66-year-old Caucasian man was admitted to an acute psychiatric ward under section 2 of the Mental Health Act after presenting with auditory hallucinations and partition delusions. He had been known to mental health services since 2005 but had never been treated with psychotropic medication or given a formal psychiatric diagnosis. He was also diagnosed with hypopituitarism of unknown aetiology in 2002. In light of this presentation, his medical history was reviewed in full, hormone levels and a full delirium screen including blood borne virus and syphilis serology was completed to ensure no organic cause had been missed. The treponemal antibody was positive, and he reported no previous syphilis treatment, as such a diagnosis of neurosyphilis was performed. This case demonstrates a patient presenting with two potential complications of syphilis; psychosis and hypopituitarism where screening for this infection had not been previously considered.