New report reveals more than 2.8m people were in contact with secondary mental health services in 2019/20

28 Jan 2021 12:22 PM

More than 2.8m people were in contact with secondary mental health services in England in 2019-20, according to new figures published by NHS Digital.

Data published in the Mental Health Bulletin: 2019-20 Annual Report show that the number of people people reported to be in contact with¹ secondary mental health services in England is reported to have increased²has increased² from 2,726,700 in 2018-19 to 2,878,600 in 2019-20.

The report shows that there were 548,500 children and young people who had made first contact³ with secondary mental health services in 2019/20.

Children from the most deprived areasareas⁴ (73,500) were more than twice as likely to be in contact with mental health secondary care support than those from the least deprived areas (34,200).

It is also revealed in the publication that 30,600 people were in contact with secondary mental health services for perinatal mental health problems⁵. Those Those living in the most deprived areas (4,400) were more than twice as likely to be in contact with mental health services than those living in the least deprived areas (1,800).

Altogether 12,000 people in England were subject to at least one restrictive intervention in 2019/20.

The proportion of the overall population who were in a mental health setting and underwent at least one restrictive intervention varied by ethnicity.

The figures reveal that 70.5 black or black British people per 100,000 of the population were in a mental health setting and underwent at least one restrictive intervention⁶ compared to 18.7 white people per 100,000 of the population.

The total number of white people who were subject to restrictive intervention stood at 8,400 compared to 1,300 black or black British people.

Other data in the report includes:

• Number of adult mental health care clusters assigned by end of year
• Number of in-year bed days
• Admissions, discharges and average daily occupied beds
• Care contacts by attendance and service
• Number of referrals on Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) pathway
• Number of discharges from adult acute secondary mental health services beds followed up within 72 hours
• Number of referrals and contacts with memory services teams for people with dementia

The data is broken down to local level by commissioning region, Sustainable and Transformation Plan (STP) footprint, clinical commissioning group (CCG) and local authority.

Read the full report

Mental Health Bulletin 2019-20 Annual report

Notes for Editors

1. A person is considered to be ‘in contact’ with services in this publication if they have had an open referral with secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services during 2018-19. This may include referrals which did not result in an attendance with a service or treatment being received
2. Please note that the increase may have been driven by the improvements in completeness of the MHSDS; the total number of providers submitting to MHSDS increasing from 178 providers submitting data in 2018-19 to 302 providers submitting data 2019-20.
3. First contact with mental health services is an appointment for a care contact taking place with a care professional to support the diagnosis and care planning of the patient via a medium allowing synchronous communication such as face to face discussion, telephone or talk type for a person unable to speak.
4. Further information about the  deciles for the Indices of Multiple Deprivation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/english-indices-of-deprivation
5. Perinatal Mental Health Services include support for mental health problems which occur during pregnancy or in the first year following the birth of a child.
6. Restrictive interventions include physical restraint, chemical restraint, mechanical restraint seclusion and segregation.