Changing the submission windows for the Mental Health Services Data
Announcement of methodological change
This section briefly outlines key points about the changes that have been made to the collection of the Mental Health Services Dataset and the effect they have had on the Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication series.
What has changed
To provide more timely statistics in the Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication series, from October 2023 activity, revised submission windows will be introduced to support a move to reporting performance data in the month following activity. This means that from October activity we will no longer be capturing provisional data, performance data will be captured in November and reported upon in December with around a 6 week gap between data collection and publication. Initially, the change from October 2023 activity excluded restrictive interventions data. This was amended as of October 2024 performance data where restrictive interventions data is now included with the first cut of data. The current exemption to the change are data which are currently reported on a quarterly basis, for example the linked analysis of Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) and Maternity Services Dataset (MSDS) which presents data on the number of new or expectant women in contact with mental health services. This situation will continue to be monitored and may change in future if evidence supports further changes.
As per the current situation, the multiple submission window model will remain in place and providers will have the ability to re-submit data for previous months in the financial year. Submission dates have been moved to allow extra time for providers to submit data, with submission dates now allowing around 18 days after the end of the month to allow providers to submit data. This is in comparison with around 14 days previously.
More details on the submission windows for MHSDS can be found at Submitting Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) data.
Last edited: 2 December 2024 9:16 am