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Creating sustainable communities and a fairer world

51. Mortality rates for those with severe mental illness

Measure to be developed

  • The Department of Health is exploring the development of an indicator relating to people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI).  This will involve combining mortality and mental illness data.  It will focus attention on looking after the physical health of people with SMI.
  • The indicator will emphasise the interconnection between mental and physical health. For example, taking regular exercise should be beneficial in improving the physical health of those with SMI but, in addition, there may well be a direct benefit to their mental health.
  • The indicator would also be important from an inequalities perspective because, for example, those on lower incomes or the unemployed are more likely to have SMI, and ultimately higher mortality rates for those with SMI compared with the general population. 
  • This would be a new data set requiring linkage between ONS mortality data and the Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS), and this indicator is currently under development.

    Contextual wellbeing measure – please see indicator No. 68 for more details.

Updated: 30 July 2009