Spike in mental health patient deaths shows NHS 'struggling to cope' MP Norman Lamb likens rise of over 20% in the unexpected deaths of mentally ill people in NHS care to Mid Staffs scandal and calls for investigation The number of deaths annually among mental health patients in England has risen from 1,412 to 1,713 over the last three years. Photograph: Jolie Clifford/Glasshouse Images/Corbis Denis Campbell Health policy editor A sudden spike in the number of mental health patients dying unexpectedly in NHS care has prompted calls for a wide-ranging investigation into “threadbare” services that are “struggling to cope”. New NHS figures show that the number of deaths annually among mental health patients in England has risen 21% over the last three years from 1,412 to 1,713. 'I didn't matter': the long wait for mental health treatment Helen Convery had serious anxiety after her husband fell ill and her father was told he had terminal cancer. Her struggl...