Two Per Cent Of People In England In Contact With NHS Specialist Mental Health Services, New Report Shows

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Bipolar;  Depression
Article Date: 29 Oct 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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One in 50 people in England were in contact with NHS specialist services for those with severe or enduring mental health problems in 2006-07, according to a new report by The NHS Information Centre.

The number accessing specialist services, which cover care by specialist psychiatric teams in hospital or in the community, has risen over the four years covered by the report, reaching more than 1.1 million in 2006-07.

Of this number, about one in ten spent time as an inpatient in mental health services, with one in four inpatients spending some time detained compulsorily under the Mental Health Act.

The national report is the first ever to use data from the Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS) annual return and offers the most comprehensive information to date on NHS secondary mental health services.

Its findings are viewed as experimental, as this is the first time the information has been analysed and presented in this way and there are still issues with the collection and coverage of data.

However, findings from the report suggest that:

-- In 2006-7 there were nearly 4,800 records with a hospital stay exceeding a year - a fall from earlier years. In 2006-07 more than half (55,900) of records that included a hospital stay showed an average length of stay that lasted less than a month.

-- 106,600 people spent time in hospital in 2006-07 - about seven thousand less than in 2003-04. Within the same time period, figures suggest the number of NHS beds available reduced by about 1,300 (from 23,400 in 2003-04 to 22,100 in 2006-07).

-- Although more men than women spent time as hospital inpatients (54,900 men compared to 51,600 women) in 2006-07, women outnumbered men as users of outpatient and community mental health services by more than 100,000 (413,500 men compared to 521,300 women).

The report includes detailed information about age, gender and ethnicity. Findings appear to support results from the Count Me In census, including that a higher proportion of patients from some Black or Minority Ethnic groups, compared with the general population, spent time detained in hospital.

The basic figures provided in this new report give some context to the detailed analysis provided in another NHS Information Centre bulletin: Inpatients detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and other legislation, England, 1997-98 to 2007-08, which is also published today. These national statistics show:

-- At 31 March 2008, there were 15,200 patients detained in hospital, of which 12,300 were in NHS facilities and 2,900 in independent hospitals. This compares to 15,300 detained in hospital at 31 March 2007, of which 12,200 were in NHS facilities and 3,100 in independent hospitals.

-- The number of detentions under the Mental Health Act in 2007-08 was 47,600, compared to 46,500 in 2006-07. There were 19,500 detentions after informal admission to hospital in 2007-08, compared to 18,800 in 2006-07.

-- The number of Place of Safety orders involving assessment in hospital was 7,500 in 2007-08 compared to 6,400 in 2006-07. More than two thirds (71 per cent) of orders in 2007-08 did not result in a formal detention, compared to 74 per cent in 2007-08.

NHS Information Centre Chief Executive Tim Straughan said: "As our new report shows, severe or enduring mental health issues directly affect one person in every 50 in England, and probably touches the lives of so many more.

"The issue of mental health therefore is huge in this country and it is vital high quality information, building on the data included in these reports, is available for the NHS to monitor and plan mental health services effectively."

A full version of the experimental findings from the Mental Health Bulletin: First report and experimental statistics from Mental Health Minimum Datasets (MHMDS) annual returns, 2003-2007 can be viewed here.

A full version of the NHS Information Centre bulletin: Inpatients detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and other legislation, England, 1997-98 to 2007-08 can be viewed here.

1. The NHS Information Centre welcomes feedback about the Mental Health Bulletin: First report and experimental statistics from Mental Health Minimum Datasets (MHMDS) annual returns, 2003-2007, which are published as experimental statistics.

2. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 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.

3. Trust level analyses for the Mental Health Bulletin are available online here.

4. Comparisons with Inpatients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and other legislation, England: 1997-98 to 2007-08

The Mental Health Bulletin is published at the same time as the latest release of the annual publication: Inpatients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 07-08 (KP90 publication). In relation to the Mental Health Act the KP90 publication is the authoritative source of statistics, whilst the Mental Health Bulletin findings are experimental statistics.

There are differences between the number of formal admissions reported in the KP90 publication and the number of people detained in hospital during the year reported in the Mental Health Bulletin. Some differences may be accountable to different data sources and the experimental nature of the analyses presented in the Mental Health Bulletin. However there are also fundamental differences in the services covered by both publications and in what is being counted.

-- The KP90 publication includes data from some services which do not complete the MHMDS including

-- learning disability services

-- high secure hospitals

-- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

-- independent hospitals.

Also, the KP90 counts Mental Health Act events or 'uses' of the Mental Health Act, whilst the Mental Health Bulletin statistics count people who are subject to the Act. One person can be formally admitted more than once and in more than one provider organisation during a single year but will only be counted once per year in the Mental Health Bulletin.

5. Data which relates to one in 50 rate of access in the experimental MHDMS report has been age standardised. This means population numbers obtained from the submitted data are adjusted to reflect the entire population, by applying the European Standard Population of known age structure. All other data in this report is of people as observed and is not age standardised.

6. The Count Me In Census is published by The Healthcare Commission and includes information about the ethnicity of inpatients in mental health hospitals and facilities in England and Wales. It offers a starting point for measuring the number of inpatients from black and minority ethnic groups in mental health services, from which progress towards achieving the government initiative Delivering race equality in mental health care can be assessed here

7. Inpatients detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and other legislation, England, 1997-98 to 2007-08, summarises information about people detained under the 1983 mental health act in NHS facilities, including high security psychiatric hospitals and independent hospitals. This is the authoritative source of statistics on uses of the Mental Health Act and as well as information from NHS trusts, almost all of whom completed the MHMDS, includes information from independent hospitals and learning disability services (which do not currently complete the MHMDS).

8. A place of safety order is part of the Mental Health Act 1983. It gives police the power to remove a person who appears to be mentally disordered to a place of safety for the safety of themselves and others. A recognised place of safety includes a healthcare setting.

The NHS Information Centre
http://www.ic.nhs.uk