In scope

The MHSDS 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 services for mental health and wellbeing, Learning Disability, autism or other neurodevelopmental conditions.

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 information systems.

All activity relating to patients of any age who receive care for a suspected or diagnosed mental health and wellbeing need, Learning Disability, autism or other neurodevelopmental conditions is within scope of the MHSDS.

It may be that the person has:

• A mental health need or is being supported for their mental wellbeing including;

- Gambling addiction and substance misuse

- Children and young people’s mental health services

- Mental health support teams working in schools and colleges 

• Any combination of mental health, Learning Disability or autism needs

Record level data submission requirements for each patient accessing services, based on location and funding source, are as follows;

Services 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

Services outside England: 

• if the patient is attending a service located outside England, but commissioned by an English CCG, NHS England specialised commissioner or an NHS-led Provider Collaborative, data submission is optional but may be a requirement of the commissioning arrangements
• for example, this would include providers that are near English borders that routinely provide services to English patients and are claiming funding from English commissioners

Out of scope

The following areas are currently out of scope and should not be included within MHSDS:

Adult Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) are currently out of scope of the MHSDS as this activity is covered by the IAPT dataset. Further detail and additional examples of activity in scope can be found within the Resources section within our recent MHSDS events on our events pages.

It is mandatory for NHS funded care providers, including independent sector providers, to submit MHSDS data. Data for non-NHS funded clients can also now be submitted on an optional basis. 

Read how to submit data to the MHSDS.

Use our submission tracker, a list of organisations who submit data to the MHSDS and are deemed to be in scope. 

A multiple submission window model for the MHSDS has been made available to providers from 1 April 2020.  Please refer to the details on our submissions page for further information.

MHSDS v4.1 (DCB0011) is the latest version of the information standard to be approved by the Data Coordination Board (DCB), data collection for v4.1 commenced on 1 April 2020, replacing the previous v4.0 collection.  

The information standard defines the data items, definitions and associated value sets to be extracted or derived from local information systems.

The associated ISN's and standard documentation can be found on the DCB0011 publication page.

Previous versions of the MHSDS are available on the government national archives site.

The MHSDS has a number of uses including for:

• commissioning services
• clinical audit
• research
• service planning
• inspection and regulation
• monitoring government policies and legislation
• local and national performance management and benchmarking
• national reporting and analysis

The MHSDS is the data source used by Mental Health Currencies and Payment (formerly PbR). As such, the Mental Health Care Clusters, and Mental Health Clustering Tool are implemented through the MHSDS.

MHSDS statistics offer a comprehensive national picture of the use of specialist mental health, learning disabilities or autism services in England. It can be used by:

• policy makers
• commissioners
• mental health service users

• members of the public

Development of MHSDS v5.0 commenced earlier this year for an April 2021 go-live, in keeping with the annual update strategy that has been in place in recent years. 

In view of the current pressures on the system, at both a local and national level, a decision has been taken to delay the go-live for v5.0 until 1 October 2021. 

This extension allows for the essential stakeholder consultations and assurance processes to be resumed at a more appropriate time in the year, which would have otherwise been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 response efforts. 

As a consequence of the v5.0 delay, there will also be a delay to a future version v6.0, which would have been scheduled for April 2022. Further details around long term planning will be shared in due course.  

As part of our consultation for v5.0 of the MHSDS, NHS England and NHS Digital have previously scheduled a series of webinar events which commenced throughout October to December 2020, this was followed by an online public consultation which ran from 12 to 29 January 2020. 

Details following the webinar events have been published on our MHSDS Events page.

If you have a general enquiry about Mental Health or Maternity data sets, please email our Contact Centre on enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or telephone us on 0300 303 5678.

If you require any operational support using SDCS Cloud, please contact the National Service Desk 0300 303 5035 or ssd.nationalservicedesk@nhs.net.