NHS Digital has launched an interactive online hub for access to the datasets it holds on mental health.
Named the Mental Health Data Hub, it is available for healthcare workers, patients, carers, charities and researchers. They can view the data in visualisations including charts and graphs and select providers or geographical areas of interest.
It includes information on the number of people in contact with mental health services, the proportion of mental health, learning disability and autism service users admitted as an inpatient, and estimates for the number of staff in the mental health and learning disability workforce.
Key tool
Ramesh Notra, principal information analyst in community and mental health at NHS Digital, said: “The Mental Health Data Hub is a key tool to enable people to access our mental health statistics more easily and in an interactive way. The dashboards have been designed to guide users to the key information and allow them to investigate further using the interactive features provided.
“The data hub also provides links to sources of mental health data produced by other organisations.
“As well as improving access, we hope the hub will assist in our efforts to improve data quality by enabling organisations to see how they compare in terms of data submissions.”
He added that NHS Digital is aiming to make improvements based on feedback from users.
This is the second data hub to be created by the organisation, following the launch of the GP Data Hub last year, and is in line with its aim to make it easier for people to access the array of data about health and social care which it collects.
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