Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study (MAPS): Analysis of NHS datasets

Children and young people (CYP) presenting with a mental health (MH) crisis are frequently admitted to general acute inpatient wards as a place of safety. There is concern that admissions like this are increasing, but little data on why this might be.

The aim of this project is to look at trends in healthcare activity in England due to Mental Health problems in detail, using data held by NHS England. We will request to use personal data which have been collected without consent on attendance to hospital and community service use in CYP in England from 2017 - 2022/3. This data is collected so that health care trusts receive the right funding for services they provide. The categories of personal data requested from NHS England will include: information about health (the reason for admission, attendance); socio-demographic data (including age, sex, ethnicity); usual place of residence (lower super output area); and, Mental Health Act Status. Analysis of this peudo-anonymised data will help us to understand how many CYP are needing to be admitted to paediatric wards because of mental health problems, and why numbers are increasing.

UCL is the sponsor for this study and will act as the data controller responsible for looking after the personal data needed for this research. None of the data requested from NHS England, or results from this study, will be identifiable. We will hold this data securely within UCL for 5 years for this research. We will request to use personal data which have been collected without consent, the legal basis for the use of this data is that this is a task in the public interest. Further information on UCL data protection and privacy policies are available here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy.