Use of NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services
Published
1. Main facts and figures
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in the year to March 2023, around 4,756 people for every 100,000 people in England used secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services
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people from the mixed white and black Caribbean ethnic group were most likely to use the services out of all ethnic groups (excluding groups labelled ‘other’) – people from the Chinese ethnic group were least likely
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the ‘mixed other’ and ‘black other’ ethnic groups had the highest rates of people using the services – but these rates are seen as overestimates because ‘other’ categories may have been used for people whose specific ethnicity was not known
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the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups had the lowest rates in all 4 years to March 2023
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the number of people using NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services in the year to March 2023.
Secondary care includes specialist treatment or therapy for a mental health problem provided by hospital or community mental health teams. It does not include people who are being treated for a mental health problem only within primary care settings, such as prescribed medication or less specialised interventions for a mental health problem by their GP.
Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
How rates are calculated
The number is shown as a rate per 100,000 people in each ethnic group. People who had more than one period of care are counted once.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the 16 ethnic groups used in the 2001 Census.
Data is also shown for 5 aggregated ethnic groups:
- Asian
- black
- mixed
- white
- ‘other’
This means data is shown for these groups as a whole.
Rates for people in the ‘other’ ethnic groups, including Asian ‘other’ and black ‘other’, are thought to be overestimated, as they may have been used for people whose specific ethnic group was not known.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Rates for every 100,000 people are worked out using population data from the Census. You can read more about how we use Census data and some of the problems involved.
Data for the year to March 2023 uses population data from the 2021 Census. Data for previous years uses population data from the 2011 Census. There are instances where the populations have changed significantly between 2011 and 2021. This should be considered when comparing rates between different years.
Data is shown for the ethnic groups used in the 2001 Census, which did not include ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ or ‘Arab’ groups.
Some people who would have identified themselves as ‘Arab' may not be included in the rate for the aggregated ‘other’ ethnic group. Some people who would have identified as ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ may not be included in the rate for the aggregated white ethnic group. This could affect the rates for these aggregated groups.
In the data file
Download the data for:
- the unweighted number of people surveyed
- unrounded figures for the period April 2017 to March 2023
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group – find out more about how we use confidence intervals to judge the reliability of estimates
3. By ethnicity (5 groups)
| Ethnicity | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | |
| Asian | 3,458 | 3,636 | 3,570 | 3,133 |
| Black | 4,832 | 5,098 | 5,125 | 4,425 |
| Mixed | 7,950 | 7,147 | 7,569 | 7,499 |
| White | 4,010 | 4,180 | 4,042 | 4,820 |
| Other | 7,327 | 7,402 | 7,797 | 5,592 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (5 groups)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (5 groups)’ (CSV)
Summary of Use of NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services By ethnicity (5 groups) Summary
The data shows that:
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out of the 5 aggregated ethnic groups, people with mixed ethnicity (7,499 people for every 100,000) were the most likely to use NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services in the year to March 2023
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people with mixed ethnicity were more than twice as likely to use the services as Asian people (3,133 people for every 100,000)
4. By ethnicity (16 groups)
| Ethnicity | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | |
| All | 4,013 | 4,173 | 4,063 | 4,756 |
| Asian | 3,458 | 3,636 | 3,570 | 3,133 |
| Bangladeshi | 4,234 | 4,668 | 4,562 | 3,173 |
| Indian | 2,544 | 2,702 | 2,705 | 2,511 |
| Pakistani | 4,268 | 4,459 | 4,364 | 3,318 |
| Asian other | 4,146 | 4,236 | 4,088 | 4,008 |
| Black | 4,832 | 5,098 | 5,125 | 4,425 |
| Black African | 3,261 | 3,485 | 3,900 | 2,907 |
| Black Caribbean | 4,891 | 5,099 | 5,068 | 5,656 |
| Black other | 11,580 | 12,440 | 11,602 | 9,415 |
| Mixed | 7,950 | 7,147 | 7,569 | 7,499 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 3,145 | 3,483 | 3,557 | 3,513 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 4,602 | 5,098 | 5,268 | 4,826 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 4,601 | 5,013 | 5,139 | 5,853 |
| Mixed other | 18,758 | 14,836 | 16,092 | 14,889 |
| White | 4,010 | 4,180 | 4,042 | 4,820 |
| White British | 4,013 | 4,166 | 4,041 | 4,940 |
| White Irish | 3,620 | 3,904 | 3,772 | 4,127 |
| White other | 5,621 | 6,361 | 5,764 | 3,746 |
| Other including Chinese | 7,327 | 7,402 | 7,797 | 9,321 |
| Chinese | 1,612 | 1,691 | 1,631 | 1,883 |
| Any other | 17,966 | 18,098 | 19,239 | 5,592 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (16 groups)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (16 groups)’ (CSV)
Summary of Use of NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services By ethnicity (16 groups) Summary
The data shows that:
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out of all ethnic groups, the mixed ‘other’ and black ‘other’ ethnic groups had the highest rates of people using NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services – however, these rates are seen as overestimates because ‘other’ categories may have been used for people whose ethnic group was not known
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excluding the ‘other’ groups, the mixed white and black Caribbean ethnic group (5,853 people for every 100,000) had the highest rate of people using NHS mental health, learning disabilities and autism services
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the Chinese ethnic group (1,883 people for every 100,000) had the lowest rate
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in each of the 4 years from April 2018 to March 2023, the black ‘other’ and mixed ‘other’ ethnic groups had the highest rates of people using the services
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the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups had the lowest rates
5. Data sources
Source
Mental Health Services Data Set
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
NHS Digital
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) has information about people who are in contact with mental health, learning disabilities and autism services. It uses clinical and operational data for purposes other than direct patient care.