Publication, Part of Statistics on people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals
Learning Disability Services Monthly Statistics, AT: April 2025, MHSDS: March 2025
Official statistics, Experimental statistics
Error in adult inpatient rates in Assuring Transformation (AT) Table 5.2
We have identified an error affecting the adult inpatient rates presented in Assuring Transformation (AT) Table 5.2. The error affects each AT reporting period from October 2023 to June 2025 inclusive.
The error arose due to the rate calculation having been performed using ONS mid-year population estimates from the year 2020 rather than 2017. The adult inpatient numbers in this table are unaffected by the error.
The affected rates data has now been redacted from Table 5.2 in each of the affected publications.
Corrected rates for March 2024 and March 2025, the ‘end-of-year’ months, have been published on Supplementary Information here.
NHS England apologises for any inconvenience caused.
8 October 2025 18:00 PM
Resolution of Gender code issue previously affecting Tables 2.1 and 4.3
NHS England previously identified an issue affecting the ‘Gender identity’ breakdown forming part of Table 2.1 in the LDA monthly statistics from AT-Data tables. The issue also affected the ‘Gender’ breakdown which is part of Table 4.3.
These breakdowns were temporarily removed from the respective tables, as well as from the AT csv file while we investigated the issue.
This issue has now been resolved and the breakdown has been reinstated in each table.
NHS England apologises for any inconvenience caused.
22 May 2025 09:30 AM
New Restrictive Intervention (AT) Data Quality Report
NHS England have added a new data quality report to the publication. The report presents information on the completion of restrictive intervention data by submitting organisations in the Assuring Transformation (AT) data collection. The purpose of the report is to highlight where completion of restrictive intervention data is poorer to improve data quality.
Restrictive intervention data is submitted to the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) and this is the main source of use of force data for restrictive interventions for patients in contact with Mental Health Services. Data on restrictive interventions for people with a learning disability or autistic people in mental health hospital is included in this publication in the MHSDS data tables.
22 May 2025 09:30 AM
Issue with legal status breakdowns in historical publications
Please note that an issue has been identified within the legal status breakdown within tables 2.3, 4.1 and 4.2. These breakdowns relate to whether the patient was detained under the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act or other acts.
Impact
NHS England has completed an impact assessment which showed that previously the number of patients who were subject to the MHA was being overreported by 1 and 2% of total patients. In the most recent 12 months this was closer to 1% - the median across all time periods reported was 1.1% and 25 patients.
Most of these patients were detained under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and other acts but were reported as MHA Other. Within the specific parts of the MHA, a small number of patients were reported under MHA Other but should have been reported under Part II, correcting the MHA Part II figures has largely not made a difference to the rounded figures. All figures for Part III with and without restrictions were reported correctly.
Historical Publication
This issue has been resolved in time for the May-26 publication but impacts historical publications using data from the Assuring Transformation dataset.
NHS England will not republish historical files with updated data but caution is advised in using these breakdowns and users should use the publications from the May-26 publication onwards for correct counts of patients detained under specific sections of the MHA. Statistics on people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals, AT: May 2026, MHSDS: April 2026 - NHS England Digital
NHS England apologises for any inconvenience caused.
22 June 2026 11:22 AM
Summary findings from the AT dataset
Main findings
Data collected at the end of April 2025 shows that:
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There were 2,025 learning disabilities and/or autism inpatients at the end of the month.
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More patients were discharged (180) than admitted (120) to hospitals.
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145 (80%) were discharged back into the community.
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Many inpatients have been in hospital for a long time. Of those in hospital at the end of the month, 1,015 (50%) have had a total length of stay of over 2 years. This includes 315 who have been in hospital for more than 10 years.
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850 (42%) inpatients are in a secure ward.
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There were more males than females in hospital.
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The largest number of inpatients (610, 30%) were aged between 25-34, and the lowest number (35, 2%) were aged 65 and over.
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120 were admitted to hospital. Of these 60 were first admissions, 30 were readmissions within a year of the previous discharge, and 30 were transfers from other hospitals.
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560 inpatients (28%) last had a review of care over 6 months ago.
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30% of inpatients (500) in hospital travelled up to 10km for care or treatment, whilst approximately 32% of inpatients (545) in hospital travelled over 50km for care or treatment.
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425 inpatients (21%) have a date planned for them to leave hospital.
Inpatients
Overall Counts
There were 2,025 learning disabilities and/or autism inpatients at the end of the month. Of these, 1,925 have been receiving care from the start of the month.
Of the NHS England commissioning regions, the Midlands accounts for the highest proportion of learning disabilities and/or autism inpatients (each 20% of the total), whilst East of England has the lowest (9% of the total).
Inpatient Age and Gender
(240, 12%) of inpatients are under 18 and (35, 2%) are 65 and over. The largest number of inpatients are in the 25-34 group (610, 30%).
Overall, there were more males than females in hospital.
Total Length of Stay
An inpatient’s total length of stay is the time since the date of their first admission to any hospital as part of this continuous period of inpatient care.
Of those in hospital at the end of the month, 1,015 (50%) have had a total length of stay over 2 years. This includes 315 who have been in hospital for more than 10 years.
Ward Security Level
1,175 (58%) of inpatients are in a non-secure ward, and 850 (42%) are in a secure ward. 70 (3%) of inpatients were in a high secure ward setting.
Non-secure wards include inpatients in general wards and psychiatric intensive care units (PICU). Secure wards include patients with low, medium and high secure ward settings.
Time since most recent review of care plan
980 (48%) inpatients had a review of care within the last 12 weeks. 560 (28%) last had a review of care over 6 months (26 weeks) ago.
Admissions
Counts of admissions include people who were admitted in the month and who were admitted and discharged in the month. For further details see the Glossary and Definitions in the AT Appendices.
Admissions by Status on Admission
120 were admitted to hospital during April 2025. Of these 60 were first admissions in a year, 30 were readmissions within a year of the previous discharge, and 30 were transfers from other hospitals.
Source of Admission
Patients were most commonly admitted from their usual place of residence (36%), followed by admission from acute hospital beds (29%).
Discharges / transfers
Counts of discharges include people who were discharged in the month and who were admitted and discharged in the month. Discharges includes where patients were transferred to other hospitals.
The recording of Discharge destination changed in v3 of the dataset from April 2021, earlier data is not comparable.
For further details see the Glossary and Definitions in the AT Appendices.
Discharge Destination
180 inpatients were discharged from a hospital during April 2025. Of these 145 (80%) were discharged back to the community. 30 (16%) were transferred to another hospital setting.
Last edited: 22 June 2026 11:22 am