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1. NSW Mental Health service users have lower rates of cervical screening
2. NSW Mental Health service users have high rates of emergency surgery

​NSW Mental Health service users have lower rates of cervical screening

Women living with serious mental health conditions have similar rates of cervical cancer but more cervical cancer deaths than other Australian women.

Lower cervical screening rates can lead to later diagnosis and worse outcomes. The National Cervical Screening Program offers free screening for women aged 25 – 74. Screening has halved cervical cancer mortality in Australia.

Only 40% of women who use NSW mental health services have had recent screening, compared with 54% of other NSW women. Screening gaps were not due to differences in disadvantage or rural location. Older mental health service users had very low cervical screening rates.

Self-screening, a new option introduced in 2022, may make screening more accessible. Cervical screening is now recommended five yearly. Mental health and cancer screening services should work together to support service users to participate in cervical screening.

The study used screening data from 2015 to 2017.

Read the full study.​​​

Mental Health Living Longer (MHLL) aims to use data to improve the physical health of people who use NSW mental health services. ​

​NSW Mental Health service users have high rates of emergency surgery

Many mental health service users have chronic conditions that require surgery. If people face barriers to planned surgery, they may need emergency surgery, which often has worse outcomes.

We studied 1.2 million surgical procedures in NSW public and private hospitals.

Compared to other NSW residents, mental health service users had 1.2 times more planned surgery and 3.6 times more emergency surgery.

Mental health service users had high rates of some emergency procedures for life threatening conditions, including:

• 4.7 times more coronary artery grafts
• 2.4 times more emergency hernia repairs
• But mental health service users has low rates of planned procedures for some chronic and disabling conditions, including:
• 0.9 times less cataract replacements
• 0.8 times less knee replacements

In mental health service users, 32% of surgery occurred as emergency procedures, compared to only 13% in other NSW residents.

High rates of emergency surgery suggest that mental health service users’ greater need for surgery is not being met.

Work is needed to understand barriers, such as low rates of private health insurance or reduced rates of referral.

Read the full study.​​

Mental Health Living Longer (MHLL) aims to use data to improve the physical health of people who use NSW mental health services.