Background

This section provides information on the work we are doing to transform how we collect and process health and social care data, what we collect in the Mental Health Services Dataset, and what we make available in the Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication series.

When MHSDS was introduced in January 2016 it was originally introduced with a Primary and Refresh submission window. Providers were given the opportunity to submit data for the month following activity as provisional data and the 2nd month following activity as refresh data. At this point, refresh data was effectively final data as there were no subsequent opportunities to resubmit data for the activity month.

Since April 2020, a multiple submission window model was implemented on MHSDS which allowed providers to resubmit data for the current financial year. This change meant that the activity periods were relabelled so that data submitted the month following activity remained as provisional data, the data for the 2nd month following activity was relabelled to become performance data. This change was made to reflect the fact that the 2nd month for activity was no longer final data but would still be used to monitor performance. Finally, a new label was introduced to note data as Final. This label was used for data produced as part of the end of year refresh once the submission window for the financial year had closed.

Traditionally, only a selection of metrics had been published in both published provisional and performance data. It is generally accepted that that the data quality of provisional data is not as high when compared to data submitted in the performance window. There are however significant differences in the timeliness of data.

When reporting metrics in the provisional window, this approach has traditionally been used to allow users sight of the data to monitor trends but with the understanding that performance data would provide a more accurate depiction of the activity month. Over time, work has been done by NHS England to encourage submitters to provide and where necessary resubmit as much data as possible in the provisional window meaning that submissions are now much more reflective of the activity month.

The one exemption to this is data relating to restraints. The data for restraints is held in a separate reporting system. This system is harder to extract data in a format to be submitted to MHSDS and as such some providers need more time to be able to extract and cannot accurately flow data within the traditional provisional window. As a result of this, performance data will still be collected in the second month following the activity month for restraints. This is subject to further review over time.

In addition, further work will be undertaken to encourage providers who currently only submit in the second window, to submit in the first window.