Closing the Mortality Gap: Cancer Inequities for People with Severe Mental Disorders

Abstract

In October 2025, a policy dialogue-day brought together clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates to examine an overlooked health inequality: the excess cancer mortality experienced by people living with severe mental illness (SMI). Organised by University College Dublin in collaboration with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the ECHoS Cancer Mission Hub Project and the National Cancer Control Programme, the meeting sought to translate international evidence into policy responses. These disparities remain insufficiently recognised despite growing evidence of their consequences for patients and families nationally...