Mental Health Bulletin annual statistics

The Mental Health Bulletin is an annual report which provides information about people who use NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services in England.

These statistics are derived from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) which reuses operational data produced by NHS and independent providers. Although data quality is improving, the data are known to be incomplete and are therefore an undercount at England level.

This report presents important measures from the publications between 2016-17 and 2020-21 alongside provider level data quality information to help users understand the impact of local data quality issues.

This publication covers the 2020-21 reporting year and as such, will feature the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in England.

We are continually working to improve the relevance and usefulness of content in the Mental Health Bulletin. As a result this annual report includes the addition of a number of new measures as well as some further expansion of some existing demographic breakdowns.  

New measures introduced in 2019-20 and published again in 2020-21 include:

Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP)

• 10a - Number of referrals on Early  Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway that entered treatment
• 10b - Number of referrals on Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway that entered treatment within 2 weeks
• 10c - Proportion of referrals on Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway that waited 2 weeks or less to enter treatment
• 10d - Number of open referrals on Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway that entered treatment within 2 weeks
• 10e - Number of referrals not on Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway, receiving a first contact and assigned a care co-ordinator with any team

Perinatal

• 11a - Number of people in contact with specialist perinatal mental health community services

72 Hour follow up

• 12a - Number of discharges from adult acute beds eligible for 72 hour follow up
• 12b - Number of discharges from adult acute beds followed up within 72 hours
• 12c - Proportion of discharges from adult acute beds that were followed up within 72 hours

Memory Services

• 13a - Number of open referrals to memory services team at the end of the year
• 13b - Number of contacts with memory services team
• 13c - Number of attended contacts with memory services team

Care Programme Approach measures have been removed from the 2019-20 annual report onwards as it was brought to our attention that the three measures (and associated breakdowns) relating to the Care Programme Approach (CPA) were no longer a priority and that the monitoring of individual elements of good care delivered greater benefit. This approach was agreed as part of a public consultation undertaken in August 2020.

The following CPA measures have been removed from the Mental Health Bulletin, 2019-20 onwards:

• 2a - Number of people in contact with NHS funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services on the Care Programme Approach (CPA)
• 2b - Number of people in contact with NHS funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services not on the Care Programme Approach (CPA)
• 2c - Proportion of people in contact with NHS funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services on the Care Programme Approach (CPA)

Proportion of people admitted as an inpatient

This visualisation shows the proportion of people in contact with secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services who were admitted as an inpatient during any of the years between 2016-17 and 2020-21.

Number of care clusters assigned

This visualisation shows the number of care clusters that were assigned by the end of the year during any of the years between 2016-17 and 2020-21. 

Number of admissions and discharges

This visualisation shows the number of admissions to and discharges from secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism inpatient services during any of the years between 2016-17 and 2020-21. 

Number of restrictive interventions

This visualisation shows the number of restrictive interventions in secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services during any of the years between 2016-17 and 2020-21.

Number of children and young people receiving at least one or two care contacts

This visualisation shows the number of children and young people receiving at least one or two care contacts (including indirect contacts) where their first contact occurs before their 18^th birthday in secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services during any of the years between 2016-17 and 2020-21. 

Proportion of referrals on EIP waiting two weeks or less to enter treatment

This visualisation shows the proportion of referrals on the Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway that waited two weeks or less to enter treatment during 2019-20 and 2020-21. 

Number of people in contact with specialist perinatal mental health community services

This visualisation shows the number of people in contact with specialist perinatal mental health community services during 2019-20 and 2020-21. 

These statistics are dual badged; statistics produced by NHS England, then assured and published by NHS Digital. More information can be found in the ‘Dual badged statistics’ section of the report.

Proportion of discharges followed up within 72 hours

This visualisation shows the proportion of discharged hospital spells from adult acute beds that were followed up within 72 hours during 2019-20 and 2020-21. 

These statistics are dual badged; statistics produced by NHS England, then assured and published by NHS Digital. More information can be found in the ‘Dual badged statistics’ section of the report.

Number of attended contacts with memory services

This visualisation shows the number of attended care contacts with the memory services team during 2019-20 and 2020-21.

To view data for a specific organisation, please select the type of organisation and the organisation name on each page of the interactive report.

Hover your mouse over a visual to see results displayed in the tooltip.

This tool is in Microsoft PowerBI which does not fully support all accessibility needs. You can find the source data in our Mental Health Bulletin annual reports publication page. If you need further assistance, please contact us for help.

1. The proportion (as a percentage) of people in the MHSDS who were known to be inpatients.
2. The number of care clusters known to have been assigned in the MHSDS.
3. The number of known admissions and discharges in the MHSDS.
4. The number of recorded restrictive interventions in the MHSDS.
5. The number of children and young people know to have received one or two care contacts in the MHSDS.
6. The proportion (as a percentage) of referrals known to be on EIP waiting two weeks or less in the MHSDS.
7. The number of people in contact with specialist perinatal mental health community services in the MHSDS.
8. The proportion (as a percentage) of discharges that were recorded as being followed up within 72 hours in the MHSDS.
9. The number of attended contacts recorded with the memory services team in the MHSDS.
10. Information about the quality of data in the MHSDS, shown by provider and selected data table.

1. If  variations across sub-national breakdowns are due to variations in levels of mental illnesses, service provision or data quality limitations.
2. If changes between years are the result of changes in service activity or due to improvements in data quality.

1. For 2016-17 and 2017-18, there were methodological differences between the derivation of CCGs (and subsequently STPs and Regions) within the Mental Health Bulletin publication and the Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication. Where there were data quality issues, records were more likely to be mapped to an unknown CCG in the Mental Health Bulletin during these periods. For 2018-19 and 2019-20, we have brought the Mental Health Bulletin into line with the Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication methodology. NHS Digital is continuing to review the methodology for deriving CCGs across all its mental health publications and will continue to communicate future methodology changes and implications to users.
2. For 2019-20 there have been changes in the methodologies for the restrictive interventions and children and young people measures. As a result this means that the 2019-20 figures onwards are not directly comparable to those of previous years.
3. Statistics were produced from submissions made to the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS). Find more information about the MHSDS.
4. Map boundaries are displayed by clinical commissioning group (CCG)

Figures for sub-national geographies or individual service providers have been suppressed or rounded to prevent disclosure of information about individuals. Calculated values for these units, such as percentages or rates, have been suppressed if any of the values they have been calculated from have been suppressed, and otherwise rounded to the nearest whole number.

All values are rounded to the nearest 5, except values that are 4 or lower (including 0) which are suppressed to prevent the identification of individuals.

Figures produced by aggregation in this report may differ from those published as this report calculates totals as the sum of rounded figures.

Percentages are based on pre-suppressed values and rounded to zero decimal places, except where the numerator is 0-4, where the percentage is suppressed.