Competing interests: The BMJ has judged that there are no disqualifying financial ties to commercial companies. The authors declare the following other interests: BDT was a member (2013-2021) and chair (2017-2021) of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, which develops guidelines on prevention in primary care, including on depression screening; he did not serve as a voting member on depression screening guidelines. SM is an experienced patient adviser who is a member of The BMJ’s international patient panel. She is engaged in mental health advocacy and service improvement with several organisations. Further details of The BMJ policy on financial interests is here: https://www.bmj.com/sites/default/files/attachments/resources/2016/03/16-current-bmj-education-coi-form.pdf