This publication contains the official statistics about uses of the Mental Health Act ('the Act') in England during 2023-24. Under the Act, people with a mental disorder may be formally detained in hospital (or 'sectioned') in the interests of their own health or safety, or for the protection of other people. They can also be treated in the community but subject to recall to hospital for assessment and/or treatment under a Community Treatment Order (CTO). In 2016-17, the way we source and produce these statistics changed. Previously these statistics were produced from the KP90 aggregate data collection. They are now primarily produced from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS). The MHSDS provides a much richer data source for these statistics, allowing for new insights into uses of the Act. People may be detained in secure psychiatric hospitals, other NHS Trusts or at Independent Service Providers (ISPs). All organisations that detain people under the Act must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). In recent years, the number of detentions under the Act have been rising. An independent review has examined how the Act is used and has made recommendations for improving the Mental Health Act legislation. In responding to the review, the government said it would introduce a new Mental Health Bill to reform practice. This publication does not cover: 1. People in hospital voluntarily for mental health treatment, as they have not been detained under the Act (see the Mental Health Bulletin). 2. Uses of section 136 where the place of safety was a police station; these are published by the Home Office.

This publication contains the official statistics about uses of the Mental Health Act(1) ('the Act') in England during 2018-19. Under the Act, people with a mental disorder may be formally detained in hospital (or 'sectioned') in the interests of their own health or safety, or for the protection of other people. They can also be treated in the community but subject to recall to hospital for assessment and/or treatment under a Community Treatment Order (CTO). In 2016-17, the way we source and produce these statistics changed. Previously these statistics were produced from the KP90 aggregate data collection. They are now primarily produced from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS). The MHSDS provides a much richer data source for these statistics, allowing for new insights into uses of the Act. However, some providers that make use of the Act are not yet submitting data to the MHSDS, or submitting incomplete data. Improvements in data quality have been made over the past year. NHS Digital is working with partners to ensure that all providers are submitting complete data and this publication includes guidance on interpreting these statistics. Footnotes (1) The Mental Health Act 1983 as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007 and other legislation.

Experimental statistics from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS), which replaces the Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Dataset (MHLDDS). As well as analysis of waiting times, first published in March 2016 using provisional submissions for January 2016, this release includes elements of the reports that were previously included in monthly reports produced from final MHLDDS submissions. It also includes some new measures.

A 2023 survey of patient's experiences with NHS mental health services in England showed that ** percent of respondents would give their experience the highest rating possible. Conversely, **** percent of respondents said they had a very poor experience.

Context

Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics

This publication provides the most timely picture available of people using NHS funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services in England. These are experimental statistics which are undergoing development and evaluation. This information will be of use to people needing access to information quickly for operational decision making and other purposes. More detailed information on the quality and completeness of these statistics is made available later in our Mental Health Bulletin: Annual Report publication series.

• COVID-19 and the production of statistics

Due to the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) disruption, it would seem that this is now starting to affect the quality and coverage of some of our statistics, such as an increase in non-submissions for some datasets. We are also starting to see some different patterns in the submitted data. For example, fewer patients are being referred to hospital and more appointments being carried out via phone/telemedicine/email. Therefore, data should be interpreted with care over the COVID-19 period.

Content

Time period covered Feb 1, 2020 - April 31, 2020

Area covered England

Acknowledgements

reference: Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics

Author: Community and Mental Health Team, NHS Digital
Responsible Statistician: Tom Poupart, Principal Information Analyst
Public Enquiries: Telephone: 0300 303 5678
Email: enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk
Press enquiries should be made to: Media Relations Manager: Telephone: 0300 303 3888

Published by NHS Digital part of the Government Statistical Service Copyright © 2020 Health and Social Care Information Centre. The Health and Social Care Information Centre is a non-departmental body created by statute, also known as NHS Digital.

You may re-use this document/publication (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0.
To view this licence visit To view this licence visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU; or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk

Cover by-

Inspiration

This dataset is to solve the challenge- UNCOVER COVID-19 Challenge, United Network for COVID Data Exploration and Research. This data is scraped in hopes of solving the task - Mental health impact and support services.

Task Details Can we predict changes in demand for mental health services and how can we ensure access? (by region, social/economic/demographic factors, etc). Are there signs of shifts in mental health challenges across demographies, whether improvements or declines, as a result of COVID-19 and the various measures implement to contain the pandemic?

This publication provides the timeliest picture available of people using NHS funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services in England, excluding those who are solely in contact with Talking Therapies. This information will be of use to people needing access to information quickly for operational decision making and other purposes. More detailed information on the quality and completeness of these statistics is available in the Data Quality section, as well as within the Data Coverage and Data Quality VODIM and Integrity files available under 'Resources'. Please note, the methodology for MHS30f - Attended contacts in the RP with community mental health services for adult and older adults with severe mental illness has been updated to account for both the team ID recorded in the contact and referral tables. This is inline with other metrics that are similar. This brings this metric inline with other similar metrics but there maybe minor methodological differences that mean that summing the totals from other metrics may not match the values presented in this metric.

A survey of NHS mental health service users in England in 2023 showed that almost ** percent of respondents had been in contact with mental health services for between one and five years. A further ** percent had been in contact with NHS mental health services for between six and ten years, while ** percent had been in contact for more than ten years.

In 2018/19, approximately **** thousand girls aged between eleven and fifteen years in England were in contact at least once with NHS mental health services. In addition there were **** thousand boys in the eleven to fifteen years age group who were in contact with mental health services in this year.

As of November 2023, over 41.8 thousand mental health nurses worked for the National Health Service (NHS) in England. From 2016 to 2023, the number of mental health nurses staff had a slight steady increase. This statistic depicts the total number of mental health nurses in the NHS Hospitals and Community Health Service (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023.

In 2023, ** percent of community mental health services for learning disabilities or autism in England were rated as good, and a further ***** percent were rated as outstanding.

In a 2020 survey of those who had received NHS mental health treatment in England, ** percent of respondents reported that the mental health services definitely involved a member of their family, or someone else close to them, as much as the patient liked. On the other hand, ******** percent reported that their loved ones were not involved as much as they would have liked.

The Mental Health Services Data Set is a patient level, output based, secondary uses data set which aims to deliver robust, comprehensive, nationally consistent and comparable person-based information for children, young people and adults who are in contact with mental health services located in England or located outside England but treating patients commissioned by an English CCG or NHS England specialised commissioner. As a secondary uses data set it re-uses clinical and operational data for purposes other than direct patient care, for example: commissioning, service improvement and service design. It defines the data items, definitions and associated value sets extracted or derived from local Electronic Patient Record systems.

In Scope: All activity relating to people who receive specialist secondary mental health care services and have, or are thought to have, a mental illness; or who receive specialist secondary learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder services and have, or are thought to have, a learning disability or autism spectrum disorder is within scope of the MHSDS. The scope of the data set requires record level data submission for each person attending a service located in England: • if the person is wholly funded by the NHS data submission for that person is mandatory • if the person is partially funded by the NHS data submission for that person is mandatory • if the person is wholly funded by any means that is not NHS data submission is optional

For each person attending a service located outside England, but commissioned by an English CCG or NHS England specialised commissioner: • data submission is optional.

Included Organisation Types: Service providers and organisations that provide specialist secondary mental health and/or learning disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorder services including: • NHS Mental Health Trusts • NHS Learning Disabilities Trusts • NHS Acute Trusts • NHS Care Trusts • Independent sector healthcare providers offering a service model that includes NHS funded patients • Any qualified provider offering specialist secondary mental health, learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder services • Community services offering secondary care to children

Out of Scope: The following areas are currently out of scope and should not be included: • Any patient receiving treatment through an in-scope service but is not thought to have a mental illness, learning disability or autism spectrum disorder e.g. o Smoking cessation services o Addictions and substance misuse services o Some alternative therapy services o Some counselling services. • Mental health, learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorder services provided only at a primary care level (such as within general practices or adult IAPT).

Additional information inc. technical specifications and user guidance: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-sets/mental-health-services-data-set

This publication contains the official statistics about uses of the Mental Health Act(1) ('the Act') in England during 2020-21. Under the Act, people with a mental disorder may be formally detained in hospital (or 'sectioned') in the interests of their own health or safety, or for the protection of other people. They can also be treated in the community but subject to recall to hospital for assessment and/or treatment under a Community Treatment Order (CTO). In 2016-17, the way we source and produce these statistics changed. Previously these statistics were produced from the KP90 aggregate data collection. They are now primarily produced from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS). The MHSDS provides a much richer data source for these statistics, allowing for new insights into uses of the Act. However, some providers that make use of the Act are not yet submitting data to the MHSDS, or submitting incomplete data. Improvements in data quality have been made over the past year. NHS Digital is working with partners to ensure that all providers are submitting complete data and this publication includes guidance on interpreting these statistics. Please note: This publication covers the 2020-21 reporting year and, as such, it is likely the impact of COVID-19 may be evident as the national lockdown began on 23 March 2020. The time series data for people subject to detention does show a decrease in people subject to detention in March 2021 so the context of COVID-19 should be kept in mind when using and interpreting these statistics. Footnotes (1) The Mental Health Act 1983 as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007 and other legislation.

In 2023, seven in ten respondents reported that they hadn't received any help or advice from NHS mental health services, in the past twelve months, for finding or keeping work.

In a 2019 survey carried out in England, ** percent of mental health patients said they were kept well informed about their mental health treatment by the NHS, with a further ** percent stating they were fairly informed about their treatment. On the other hand, **** percent of mental health patients believed they were not informed at all about the treatment they received.

This bulletin provides statistics on NHS services for people with severe and enduring mental health problems developed from the Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS) annual returns.

Experimental statistics from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) - Children & Young People

The MHSDS includes patient level clinical and administrative data for patients, who are in contact with NHS funded mental health services in England. This data set defines the data items and values extracted from local electronic patient record systems.