Severe mental illness

Recent updates

Changes and streamlining of our profiles

Following the health and social care statistical outputs consultation, user engagement is now complete and the final proposal is available for comment up to 4 August 2025.

The response proposed the following:

‘Severe mental illness’ profile and ‘Common mental disorder’ profiles will merge. DHSC will review indicator content and geographical boundaries and will undertake end user engagement

June 2025

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and Outcomes:

Suicide rate

Exploring Inequality:

Suicide rate

March 2025

The following indicators were updated:

Risk and related factors:

Violent crime - violence offences per 1,000 population
Long term claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance
Domestic abuse related incidents and crimes
Homelessness: households in temporary accommodation
Homelessness: households owed a duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act

Quality and Outcomes:

Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm

January 2025

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators
Excess premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators
Previously removed data for excess under 75 mortality rate in adults with severe mental illness (SMI) (including condition-specific) for males and females for the periods 2019 - 2021 and 2020 - 2022 has been published, with data either not published or data quality note added where data quality issues affected the calculation of the indicators

July 2024

The following data has been removed due to data quality reasons:

Excess under 75 mortality rate in adults with severe mental illness (SMI) (including condition-specific) for males and females for the periods 2019 - 2021 and 2020 - 2022.

June 2024

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators
Excess premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators

Risk and related factors

Long term claimants of jobseekers allowance

January 2024

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Suicide rate

July 2023

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Smoking prevalence in adults with a long term mental health condition (18+) - current smokers (GPPS)

February 2023

The following indicators were updated:

Risk and related factors

Domestic abuse related incidents and crimes

Quality and outcomes

Adults in contact with secondary mental health services who live in stable and appropriate accommodation
Gap in the employment rate for those who are in contact with secondary mental health services (age 18 and 69) and on the Care Plan Approach, and the overall employment rate
Homelessness: households in temporary accommodation
Homelessness: households owed a duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act

Premature mortality and excess premature mortality indicators

For 2018-2020, an error has been identified with the data in the publication of the premature mortality and excess premature mortality indicators. This error relates to data for Northamptonshire UTLA and subsequently the data for the East Midlands region. The Northamptonshire UTLA underwent changes in the 3 year period which were not previously accounted for. This has been rectified and will be updated on Fingertips in the March update. Changes at region level are not significant however the changes at UTLA level for Northamptonshire are significant. Additionally, a small number of deaths in the South East region were not mapped previously, these have been added causing a small change in the South East region data
For 2017-2019, an error has been identified with the data in the publication of the premature mortality and excess premature mortality indicators. This error relates to data for Buckinghamshire UTLA and subsequently the the data for the South East region. The Buckinghamshire UTLA underwent changes in the 3 year period which were not previously accounted for. This has been rectified and will be updated on Fingertips in the March update. Changes are at region level are not significant however the changes at UTLA level for Buckinghamshire are significant.

Proposal on changes - provide feedback by 4 August 2025

In 2023, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Office for National Statistics (ONS) and NHS England (NHSE) sought views on possible changes to their health and social care statistical products. A response to this consultation was published in November 2024.

As part of this process, the Mental Health Intelligence Network ran 5 user engagement webinars in May and June 2025 to seek further feedback in relation to mental health profiles' content and publication format. Following this engagement, the proposal for the 'Severe mental illness' profile is presented here for final comment on structure and content.

If you have any comments about these changes, please email MHIN@dhsc.gov.uk. Responses can be made up to 4 August 2025.

Introduction

The profile aims to help develop an understanding of severe mental illness (SMI) at a local level and to support an intelligence-driven approach. The profile collates and presents a wide range of data, developed from a variety of relevant, robust sources. The profile provides a set of tools that allow planners, providers and stakeholders to profile their area and benchmark against similar populations. The aim is to provide information for improvement, not judgement.

Tool structure

The SMI profiling tool brings together a range of data, presented in the form of indicators, which are divided into five topic areas:

Risk and related factors
Prevalence
Services
Quality and outcomes
Exploring inequality

A number of geographies are available with which to view each indicator and these include NHS geographies such as clinical commissioning group (CCG), integrated care board (ICB), and local government geographies such as upper tier local authority (UTLA) and regions, as well as England level data.

Supporting information

The mental health intelligence network provides a range of additional intelligence products with which to assist health professionals in key decision-making. The range of information, when used alongside the profile may enable and improve decisions about local services. Further information can be found in:

Contact us

For enquiries and feedback relating to the mental health intelligence profiles, please email: mhin@dhsc.gov.uk

Recent updates

Changes and streamlining of our profiles

Following the health and social care statistical outputs consultation, user engagement is now complete and the final proposal is available for comment up to 4 August 2025.

The response proposed the following:

‘Severe mental illness’ profile and ‘Common mental disorder’ profiles will merge. DHSC will review indicator content and geographical boundaries and will undertake end user engagement

June 2025

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and Outcomes:

Suicide rate

Exploring Inequality:

Suicide rate

March 2025

The following indicators were updated:

Risk and related factors:

Violent crime - violence offences per 1,000 population
Long term claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance
Domestic abuse related incidents and crimes
Homelessness: households in temporary accommodation
Homelessness: households owed a duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act

Quality and Outcomes:

Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm

January 2025

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators
Excess premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators
Previously removed data for excess under 75 mortality rate in adults with severe mental illness (SMI) (including condition-specific) for males and females for the periods 2019 - 2021 and 2020 - 2022 has been published, with data either not published or data quality note added where data quality issues affected the calculation of the indicators

July 2024

The following data has been removed due to data quality reasons:

Excess under 75 mortality rate in adults with severe mental illness (SMI) (including condition-specific) for males and females for the periods 2019 - 2021 and 2020 - 2022.

June 2024

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators
Excess premature mortality for adults with SMI (18 to 74 years) - including condition-specific indicators

Risk and related factors

Long term claimants of jobseekers allowance

January 2024

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Suicide rate

July 2023

The following indicators were updated:

Quality and outcomes

Smoking prevalence in adults with a long term mental health condition (18+) - current smokers (GPPS)

February 2023

The following indicators were updated:

Risk and related factors

Domestic abuse related incidents and crimes

Quality and outcomes

Adults in contact with secondary mental health services who live in stable and appropriate accommodation
Gap in the employment rate for those who are in contact with secondary mental health services (age 18 and 69) and on the Care Plan Approach, and the overall employment rate
Homelessness: households in temporary accommodation
Homelessness: households owed a duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act

Premature mortality and excess premature mortality indicators

For 2018-2020, an error has been identified with the data in the publication of the premature mortality and excess premature mortality indicators. This error relates to data for Northamptonshire UTLA and subsequently the data for the East Midlands region. The Northamptonshire UTLA underwent changes in the 3 year period which were not previously accounted for. This has been rectified and will be updated on Fingertips in the March update. Changes at region level are not significant however the changes at UTLA level for Northamptonshire are significant. Additionally, a small number of deaths in the South East region were not mapped previously, these have been added causing a small change in the South East region data
For 2017-2019, an error has been identified with the data in the publication of the premature mortality and excess premature mortality indicators. This error relates to data for Buckinghamshire UTLA and subsequently the the data for the South East region. The Buckinghamshire UTLA underwent changes in the 3 year period which were not previously accounted for. This has been rectified and will be updated on Fingertips in the March update. Changes are at region level are not significant however the changes at UTLA level for Buckinghamshire are significant.

Contents

Recent updates

Changes and streamlining of our profiles