Use of NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services
Published
1. Main facts and figures
- in the year to March 2021, almost 4,100 people per 100,000 in the population of England used secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services
- out of all 16 ethnic groups (excluding groups labelled ‘other’), mixed white and black African people were most likely to use the services – people from the Chinese ethnic group were least likely
- people in the any other, mixed other, black other and white other ethnic groups had the highest rates for using the services – these rates are seen as overestimates because ‘other’ categories may have been used for people whose specific ethnicity was not known
- the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups had the lowest rates of people using the services in the 4 years to March 2021
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the number of people using NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services in the financial year to March 2021.
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 on this page 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
Estimates are shown for these aggregated groups as a whole. Rates for people in the disaggregated groups named ‘other’ (including Asian other and black other) are thought to be overestimated, as they may have been used for people whose specific ethnicity was not known. The aggregated figures are therefore considered more reliable.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Rates per 100,000 people are worked out using population data from the 2011 Census. You can read more about how we use Census data and some of the problems involved.
Data is shown for the ethnic groups used in the 2001 Census. The main differences between the 2001 and 2011 Census ethnic groups are:
- the Chinese ethnic group moved from the ‘other’ ethnic group (in 2001) to the ‘Asian’ ethnic group (in 2011)
- there were no ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ or ‘Arab’ groups listed in 2001
In this data, 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 rate for these aggregated groups.
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- the unweighted number of people surveyed
- unrounded figures for the period April 2017 to March 2021
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | |
| Asian | 3,458 | 3,636 | 3,570 |
| Black | 4,832 | 5,098 | 5,125 |
| Mixed | 7,950 | 7,147 | 7,569 |
| White | 4,010 | 4,180 | 4,042 |
| Other | 7,327 | 7,402 | 7,797 |
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:
- out of the 5 aggregated ethnic groups, people from the other ethnic group were the most likely to use NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services (7,797 people per 100,000) in the year to March 2021
- people from the other and mixed ethnic group were more than twice as likely to use the services as Asian people – 7,797 and 7,569 people per 100,000 compared with 3,570 people per 100,000 in the year to March 2021
- use of the services increased in the Asian, black, mixed and white ethnic groups between April 2018 and March 2021
4. By ethnicity (16 groups)
| Ethnicity | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | Number per 100,000 | |
| All | 4,013 | 4,173 | 4,063 |
| Asian | 3,458 | 3,636 | 3,570 |
| Bangladeshi | 4,234 | 4,668 | 4,562 |
| Indian | 2,544 | 2,702 | 2,705 |
| Pakistani | 4,268 | 4,459 | 4,364 |
| Asian other | 4,146 | 4,236 | 4,088 |
| Black | 4,832 | 5,098 | 5,125 |
| Black African | 3,261 | 3,485 | 3,900 |
| Black Caribbean | 4,891 | 5,099 | 5,068 |
| Black other | 11,580 | 12,440 | 11,602 |
| Mixed | 7,950 | 7,147 | 7,569 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 3,145 | 3,483 | 3,557 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 4,602 | 5,098 | 5,268 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 4,601 | 5,013 | 5,139 |
| Mixed other | 18,758 | 14,836 | 16,092 |
| White | 4,010 | 4,180 | 4,042 |
| White British | 4,013 | 4,166 | 4,041 |
| White Irish | 3,620 | 3,904 | 3,772 |
| White other | 5,621 | 6,361 | 5,764 |
| Other including Chinese | 7,327 | 7,402 | 7,797 |
| Chinese | 1,612 | 1,691 | 1,631 |
| Any other | 17,966 | 18,098 | 19,239 |
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:
- out of all 16 ethnic groups, people in the any other, mixed other and black other ethnic groups had the highest rates for using the services – these rates are seen as overestimates because ‘other’ categories may have been used for people whose specific ethnicity was not known
- excluding the ‘other’ groups, the mixed white and black African group had the highest rate of people using NHS mental health, learning disabilities and autism services (5,268 people per 100,000)
- people from the Chinese ethnic group were the least likely to use the services (1,631 people per 100,000)
- in each of the 3 years from April 2018 to March 2021, the black Caribbean, mixed white and black African, and mixed white and black Caribbean groups had the highest rates of people using the services
- the Chinese, Indian and mixed white and Asian ethnic groups had the lowest rates of people using the services
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.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, time, geography, value (standardised rate per 100,000 population), confidence intervals, numerator, denominator