Mental health data and analysis: a guide for health professionals

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) brings together data and analysis on mental health and wellbeing from across the health and care system, and produces resources to help improve services and outcomes. OHID also provides data and analysis to support action on suicide prevention.

This guidance is for commissioners, public health professionalsprofessionals, and others involved in the local planning and provision of services that support people with mental health conditions. It should support them to use these resources to make or influence decisions about local services.

For further guidance and information about the tools and analysis, contactor to receive a newsletter about new products, updates and upcoming webinars, contact OHID’s national Mental Health Intelligence Team at mhit@dhsc.gov.uk.

Understanding mental health locally

The The adult mental health profilesand wellbeing on, theperinatal, Fingertipschildren websiteand young people’s mental health, and suicide prevention profiles on the Fingertips website are designed to help commissioners and other health professionals understand the mental health needs and services in their local area.

The profiles bring together a wide range of publicly available data. The data is grouped by NHS geography or local authority. This means the profiles can be used to benchmark one area against another. They can also be used to see trends and compare indicators.

The profiles are also structured to support the development of mental health needs assessment.assessments.

OHID also analyses available mental health data and produces the intelligence resources detailed below to support health professionals with using the data to make or influence decisions about local services.

Severe mental illness

The adult mental health and wellbeing profile shows the prevalence and risk factors of severe mental illness (SMI).. It can also be used to find out more about assessment, treatment and outcomes.

The estimated prevalence of severe mental illness in England: report provides understanding of model-based estimated prevalence of SMI and condition groups (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychosis) in England and local areas.

Common mental health conditions

The adult mental health and wellbeing profile shows the prevalence of common mental health conditions (CMHCs), including depression and anxiety disorders, and the risk factors for these disorders. It can also be used to find out more about assessment, treatment and outcomes locally.

There are indicators in this profile that are specific to CMHCs in older people.

Physical health of people with a mental health problem

The report on premature mortality in adults with severe mental illness presents analysis of the geographical variation in the premature mortality and excess premature mortality for adults aged 18 to 74 years with SMI in England.

The report on severe mental illness and physical health inequalities uses a sample of primary care data to examine prevalence of SMI by age, sex and deprivation in England. It also provides intelligence on the proportion of people with SMI experiencing one or multiple physical health conditions, and the inequality in this between patients with SMI and all patients by age, sex and deprivation.

The report on premature mortality during COVID-19 in adults with severe mental illness investigates premature mortality (deaths in those aged 18 to 74) during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 to March 2021) in people with SMI. It looks at premature mortality from all causes in people with SMI during the pandemic, how this differs across subgroups or regionally in England, and how this compares to premature mortality in people without SMI.

The report on inequalities in cancer screening uptake examines differences in the uptake of bowel, breast and cervical screening by people with and without SMI. These are the 3 national cancer screening programmes in England. This report is based on an analysis of a sample of primary healthhealthcare care data. OHID also worked with Surreythe University of Surrey to produce some more detailed follow-up analysis on inequalities in cancer screening participation between adults with and without severe mental illness.

The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Audit data and improvement tool provides data on treatment indicators for improving the health of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Eighteen primary care CVD pathway metrics for patients with SMI are included, with accompanying data guidance.

Perinatal mental health

The perinatal, children and young people’s mental health profile shows data on mental health in pregnancy and the postnatal period (2 years after birth). It shows data on demographics, risk and related factors, prevalence, and access to services. It includes indicators at local authority and NHS geographies level.

The perinatal mental health condition prevalence report explains the basis of the modelled prevalence estimates contained within the profile, presents the variation in prevalence across England and provides supporting information on how best to use the estimates.

Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

The perinatal, children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing profile can be used to understand the prevalence of children with, or vulnerable to, mental illness and what the risk factors are. It shows the range of health, social care and education services that support these children.

Children living with parents in emotional distress provides data on the proportion of children living with at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress, by family type and work status. (Updates are currently paused while the methodology is under review.) 

Population mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing surveillance report presented close to real-time intelligence on the mental health and wellbeing of the population in England during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final version was published on 12 April 2022. 

Suicide prevention

The suicide prevention profile brings together a range of data on suicide to show how often it occurs, the risk factors,factors and what contact people with increased risk have with services.

The suicide prevention profile updates page includes all updates. Some updates have an accompanying statistical commentary. The latest commentary introduces age and sexsex-specific specific directly standardised suicide rates.

The near to real-time suspected suicide surveillance system for England is designed to act as an early warning system for changes in patterns of deaths by suicide to enable appropriate intervention. The report shows suspected suicide rates by age group and sex for the most recent 25-month period and data on suspected method of suicide for the most recent quarter.