Mental health and mortality

Research has found that the gap in all-cause mortality between psychiatric patients after discharge, and the general population, is growing. Uy Hoang (Oxford University) tells us what his paper reveals about the trend, and we discuss possible ways to tackle the disparity with Fiona Gaughran and Shubulade Smith (Institute of Psychiatry, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust). Also, a UN conference this week aims to tackle non-communicable disease. Rebecca Coombes, BMJ features editor, explains how they’re doing that, and some of the problems with the negotiations.