Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths have been recorded in inpatient mental health settings in each of the last five years.

The information requested is not held centrally. All deaths of children and young people under the care of Tier 4 inpatient children and young people’s mental health services are routinely reported to the Department via NHS England. Such deaths are also notified to the Care Quality Commission and the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health.

Since 2019, there have been a total of 23 deaths of young people aged under 18 years old in contact with Tier 4 services, including those on home leave, or who had absconded. We are unable to provide the information broken down by year, as the annual data held by NHS England includes a small patient count of fewer than five cases which could lead to the identification of individuals.

All providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission of the deaths of patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The following table shows the number of deaths of patients detained under the Mental Health Act notified to the Care Quality Commission in the last five years:

Source: the Care Quality Commission

Notes:

1. this data does not include deaths in mental health inpatient settings where the patient was not detained under the Mental Health Act; and
2. data for 2025 is up to 2 December 2025.

This data is counts of notifications to the Care Quality Commission under Regulation 17 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, Notification of death or unauthorised absence of a service user who is detained or liable to be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.