Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Progress on mental health service data collection remains slow, with many providers failing to submit
Conclusion
It is important to have the right data in place for mental health service commissioners and providers to manage and improve services, and to understand the cost effectiveness and impact of services, including patient experiences and outcomes.15 We highlighted data gaps for mental health services in our 2016 report Improving access to mental health services and recommended the Department and NHS take action, by 2018–19, to improve data on cost and performance, including data on service outcomes.16 Data on NHS mental health services have improved since 2015, with the NHS now regularly publishing data on service activity, spending and waiting time performance. However, improvements to mental health service data and information are taking longer than planned. For example, many service providers are still not submitting data as required. While the number of providers submitting data increased from 85 in 2016 to 364 in 2022, 5% of NHS providers and up to 33% of non-NHS providers were still not doing so by June 2022.17 NHSE explained that, unlike other parts of the health service, a particular challenge to data collection for mental health services is that more services are provided by third-sector organisations which often have lesser infrastructure in place.18
Government Response Summary
The government commits to implementing MHSDS v6 by April 2024 and v7 by April 2025 to improve data recording and patient-level cost tracking. NHS England also aims for 50% of relevant patients to record paired outcome scores by year-end and has commissioned an evaluation of Mental Health Support Teams.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Target implementation date: January 2024 2.2. NHS England is working to improve the recording of information on patient need, as well as other areas, through the implementation of the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) version 6 in April 2024. The version 7 update, which is currently scheduled for April 2025, is likely to include the introduction of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - 11 diagnostic standard, and support for the new mental health currencies in development, which will better track patient-level costs. Integrated care systems can access data from the MHSDS for commissioning services, service planning, monitoring performance and reporting on performance. 2.3 As part of improving data on patient outcomes, NHS England is aiming to have 50% of patients in Children and Young People (CYP), perinatal and adult community mental health services recording a paired outcome score (where the patients have the same outcome measure recorded at least twice so progress can be measured) by the end of the year where the outcomes data quality key performance applies, and will look to extend that target in future strategies. Furthermore, an independent impact evaluation of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) has also been commissioned via the National Institute of Health Research, which will include a cost effectiveness analysis of MHSTs. These improvements collectively will put the department and NHS England in a better position to jointly assess the effectiveness of different interventions that have been implemented and will be used to inform the creation of future strategies. 2.4 DHSC will provide an update in January 2024 as part of its joint letter with NHS England to the Committee.