Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of mental wellbeing on the propensity to develop physical illness.

People living with severe mental illness (SMI) are at greater risk of physical illness and face one of the greatest inequality gaps in England with life expectancy 15-20 years lower than the general population.

To help address this disparity in health outcomes, in 2016, in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, NHS England committed to leading work to ensure that by 2020/21, 280,000 people living with SMI have their physical health needs met by increasing early detection and expanding access to evidence-based physical care assessment and intervention each year.

In the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England committed to building on this ambition. By 2023/24, the number of people receiving physical health checks will further increase to an additional 110,000 people per year, bringing the total to 390,000 checks delivered each year.