People living with severe mental health problems nearly five times as likely to die before 75, as new report calls for action on scandal of preventable early deaths

A new report from Rethink Mental Illness has laid bare the factors driving preventable early deaths among people experiencing severe mental illness, as new analysis of NHS data by the charity reveals that their rate of premature mortality compared with peers is higher than it was a decade ago. 

Published today, a new report from the charity, Closing the Mortality Gap, examines why people living with severe mental illness continue to die 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population, largely due to preventable physical health conditions.  

The report is being published as new analysis of NHS data by the charity reveals:  

Rethink Mental Illness’ new report looks at the current data to identify the range of factors driving ill-health and premature deaths, including poverty, poor housing, smoking, weight gain linked to medication, physical inactivity, and fragmented care. The report also highlights the issue of diagnostic overshadowing, where physical symptoms are wrongly attributed to mental illness rather than being properly investigated and treated.  

Rethink Mental Illness argues that these early deaths are not inevitable and warns that opportunities to improve physical health are being missed, despite many people with severe mental illness being in frequent contact with services and spending long periods in hospital.  

The report calls for urgent action, and includes recommendations based on evidence from the charity’s own research, programmes and practice. Key steps highlighted include better integration of mental and physical healthcare, stronger investment in prevention and increased use of peer support. The charity also says that it is critical the upcoming 10-year cross-government mental health strategy, which is expected to be published later in 2026, tackles the wider factors driving poor health outcomes.**** 

Helen, whose brother lived with schizophrenia, said: 

"My big brother was only in his forties when he died. He'd been living with schizophrenia for many years, bouncing in and out of inpatient care. Meanwhile, his physical health just got worse and worse to the point where he was often breathless just from walking. 

“It seemed to me that his physical health wasn't always taken seriously. For example, I remember one time he was in an inpatient unit that had a gym, but the gym was locked so none of the patients could actually use it. 

“He often told me how difficult it was to eat healthily or stay active when he was in hospital, which only made things worse. He said that his physical health symptoms were sometimes dismissed as delusions or hallucinations. 

“His death was a heartbreaking shock that still haunts me today." 

Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: 

“It is a scandal that people living with severe mental health problems are so much more likely than the rest of the population to die from often preventable physical health conditions. Given that many are in frequent contact with health services throughout their lives, it is clear that opportunities to identify and treat physical health problems are being missed. This new data also highlights the urgent need to strengthen suicide prevention, with too many people in contact with mental health services still losing their lives to suicide. 

"We must remember that these early deaths are not inevitable. Physical health checks are an essential part of care for people living with severe mental illness. The next step is to ensure everyone receives one, and that problems identified lead to people receiving the support they need to improve their health. 

"People living with severe mental illness need joined-up care that considers both mental and physical health, or their lives will continue to be cut short. The new cross-government mental health strategy provides a key opportunity to address this, and it must prioritise physical health checks, improve access to mental-health informed interventions and bolster peer support, if it wants to reduce these terrible health inequalities. It is also crucial that the government's rollout of neighbourhood health services delivers change in practice. We need to see a real shift towards prevention in healthcare to stop people from becoming so mentally and physically unwell in the first place." 

ENDS 

For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact Jamie Morrell, Media Manager, at media@rethink.org or 0207 840 3138. 

*Figures taken from Excess under 75 mortality rates in adults with serious mental illness, which compares rates of premature mortality among people referred to secondary mental health services with people who were not referred. While excess mortality for people living with severe mental health problems was higher than it was between 2015 and 2017, there was a modest improvement between 2022 and 2024 compared with the previous period: 

**Figures taken from a new report, Suicide in people with severe mental health problems, published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in conjunction with NHS England. The report tracks trends in suicide in people aged 18-74 referred to secondary mental health services in the five years before their death, whether or not they received contact or spent time in hospital. 

***Data taken from Physical Health Checks for People with Severe Mental Illness. The Quality Outcomes Framework sets out indicators against which GPs receive payment for delivering them. An indicator encouraging GPs to deliver a full Physical Health Check was added in April 2023 and then removed (among others) in March 2025. 

****Government announced a new mental health strategy in May 2026. More details available on gov.uk