Prevalence of enduring and disabling mental illness in the inner city

Previous research identifying the long-term mentally ill in primary care has been outside areas of deprivation. We used a case finding approach by a primary care group to identify the prevalence and characteristics of people with enduring and disabling mental ill health in a disadvantaged inner-city community. We found a high point prevalence (12.9 per 1000 patients) of enduring psychotic and non-psychotic illness (36.1% and 63.9% respectively). This contributed to considerable workload and disability, and included a significant proportion of older people (24.6% aged over 65 years). The approach may be useful for local needs assessment. It highlights a need to consider disability as well as diagnosis for service development.