Public consultation launched to help develop Mental Health Act statistics
The NHS Information Centre (NHS IC) has launched a public consultation on how one of its major mental health statistical reports should be further developed.
Views are welcome from groups and individuals - from health professionals to the general public - about shaping the future content of the well established annual report; ‘Inpatients Detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, and Patients subject to Supervised Community treatment’.
The report summarises information about uses of the Mental Health Act including Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) and Place of Safety orders in England; such as the number of people who are detained under the Act or subject to orders during the year. It includes information from high security psychiatric hospitals, NHS service providers, and independent hospitals.
Currently, information in the report is sourced from its own specific data collection – the KP90 – which is limited in scope to the existing report format. However it is proposed that the data source changes to the Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS), a rich and detailed dataset that could be used to add new dimensions to the report.
For example, the MHMDS has the capacity to add dimensions such as ethnicity, diagnosis information, and employment status. It could allow for new analyses on topics like the length of time a person is detained in hospital or subject to a Community Treatment Order, pathway information, discharge routes, and transfers between different types of provider.
NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “We publish more than 100 statistical reports each year – and while this is obviously a significant quantity - what is paramount is the quality of what we produce. Our statistics need to be relevant and best address the information needs of health professionals and the wider public alike. This consultation offers a chance for people to have their say about how we can further develop the mental health bulletin to address such needs; and I would encourage anybody with an interest to take part.”
Mental Health Foundation chief executive, Dr Andrew McCulloch said: “We welcome this consultation and especially the opportunity for people who use mental health services and their carers to have their say on Mental Health Act data. The Act’s powers of compulsory treatment, in both hospital and community, are controversial. It’s more important than ever to ensure that the Act is being applied fairly, and that no-one is subject to compulsory powers longer than they need to be. For that we need clear, accurate and consistent data on how many people are subject to the Act, who they are and what happens to them, and their experience of care while under the Act”.
To take part in the consultation visit: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/services/mental-health/getting-involved/mental-health-act-statistics-consultation.
To view the latest report for 2010/11, visit: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/inpatientdetmha1011
To access the latest MHMDS Bulletin for 2010/11, visit: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/mhbmhmds11
For more information about what is in the MHMDS, visit: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/services/mhmds/spec
Notes to editors
- The NHS Information Centre is England’s authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
- For media enquiries please call 0845 257 6990 or contact mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk
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