Publication, Part of Excess Mortality for People Referred to Secondary Mental Health Services (aged 18 to 74)

Excess Mortality for People Referred to Secondary Mental Health Services (aged 18 to 74), 2022 to 2024

Experimental statistics, Official statistics in development

Publication Date:: 2 Sep 2026
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Country, Regions, Local Authorities

This report contains sensitive content which refers to details on deaths by suicide.

If you are struggling to cope, please call the Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and the Republic of Ireland) or contact other sources of support, such as those listed on the NHS help for suicidal thoughts webpage. Support is available around the clock, every day of the year, providing a safe place for you, whoever you are and however you are feeling.

Any onward reporting of this data should consider following the Samaritans’ media guidelines on the reporting of suicide because of the potentially damaging consequences of irresponsible reporting. In particular, the guidelines advise on terminology and include links to sources of support for anyone affected by the themes in this report.

2 September 2026 09:30 AM

Summary

Excess Mortality for People Referred to Secondary Mental Health Services (aged 18 to 74), 2022 to 2024.

This indicator is a measure of the extent to which adults in contact with secondary mental health services (aged 18 to 74) die younger than those who are not. A patient is classed as being in contact with secondary mental health services if they had an open referral with secondary mental health services in the 5 years before their death using data from the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS).

To measure premature mortality in adults in contact with secondary mental health services.

Highlights

Addition of suicide as an underlying cause of death

To measure the extent to which adults in contact with secondary mental health services die younger by suicide than adults who are not in contact with secondary mental health services by suicide, a new underlying cause of death 'suicide' has been added to this publication.

There is a higher suicide rate among people referred to secondary mental health services in the 5 years before their death. This is likely to reflect the greater mental health needs and higher underlying risk in this group compared with the general population. These clinical characteristics should be considered when interpreting the statistics. Mental health services play an important role in suicide prevention by supporting people at increased risk of suicide. The statistics should be interpreted with caution.

A patient is classed as being in contact with secondary mental health services if they had an open referral with secondary mental health services in the 5 years before their death using data from the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS).

This is contrast to the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) which evaluates patients in contact with Mental Health services in the year before their death using a separate data collection method.

As such, a separate report has been developed comparing patients dying by suicide who had contact in the year before their death using MHSDS and the NCISH reports to ensure that the figures in this publication are reliable. This report is available here Suicide in people with severe mental health problems - GOV.UK.

Republishing of Historical Data

As part of this release, the 2015-17, 2016-18, 2017-19, 2018-2020, 2019-2021, 2020-2022 and 2021-2023 publications have been republished with a 'Suicide' cause of death.

Interpreting the Data

Data in this publication is presented at national, region and Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLA) geographies. Given the data is sourced from provider submissions to the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) there can be data quality issues that present localised issues with the data. Given that this publication sources data from previous years where the data cannot be changed, some caution should be taken when seeing large changes across reporting periods.

Key Facts

Please note that “severe mental health problem” is determined by a referral to secondary mental health services in the 5 years before death.

Between 2022 to 2024, 129,216 people with severe mental health problems aged 18 to 74 years died.

This is an average of just over 43,000 per year.

The excess mortality for adults aged 18 to 74 with severe mental health problems in England in 2022 to 2024 was 379%.

This means people with severe mental health problems were 4.8 times more likely to die under the age of 75 in 2022 to 2024 than those without severe mental health problems.

Cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver disease and respiratory disease accounted for 56.5% of deaths for adults aged 18 to 74 with severe mental health problems in England in 2022 to 2024

Suicide accounted for 6.9% of deaths for adults aged 18 to 74 with severe mental health problems in England in 2022 to 2024.

The excess mortality for adults aged 18 to 74 with severe mental health problems is highest in people aged between 30 and 49

People aged between 30 and 49 with severe mental health problems were between 6.5 and 6.6 times more likely to die in 2022 to 2024 than those without severe mental health problems.