Issues with the existing data

The Welsh Government statisticians we spoke to were very open about several issues with the existing data and their desire to improve both the range of topics covered by the statistics, and the quality of the data underpinning the statistics.

The statisticians told us that the information provided by current statistics on mental health is limited. Much of the data related to mental health are collected on an aggregate basis, and there are many gaps where either the data simply do not exist or are not in an understandable or useable format.

We heard that there are several issues with the current data and systems. These include:

• Different health boards using different systems to collect their data. These range from paper systems to Excel spreadsheets to bespoke electronic reporting systems.
• Inconsistent approaches to data entry across the health boards.
• A lack of national standards for certain variables, meaning that those entering the data are unclear on what they should input or how.
• Those inputting the data not being specialists in data entry and lacking time. We heard that often, those entering data are also the clinicians delivering services and treatment. These individuals may lack the skills to engage with the IT systems, as well as being under-resourced in relation to delivering care to individuals. When pressured for time and faced with the conflict between treating patients or entering data, it seems inevitable that clinicians will opt for treating patients.

The statisticians told us that these issues combined can lead to challenges in standardising both the content and the format of the data. Additionally, some of the data may be incomplete or lack reliability.

The statisticians told us that they are doing as much as they can with the existing data to provide the greatest insights possible to users. The publication of the dashboard demonstrates a clear commitment to making the current data as accessible as possible. They also have plans to make the processes to produce the dashboard more efficient, and to bring in relevant data from wider sources. They told us, however, that making more information available to users over and above this will require more data to become available, and the planned mental health core dataset is necessary to achieve this.

Finally, the statisticians told us that they find user engagement challenging. They have close connections with some users, for example policy colleagues in the Welsh Government, where they know who to approach to ask a question. They told us, however, that they struggle to get feedback on their statistics from general users. Although they have feedback forms asking users to get in touch, users very rarely do.

They went on to say that they receive several parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests, and they try to use these to give them insight into users’ needs. Many of these requests are for questions that they cannot answer as they do not have the data. This further emphasises the point that the current data offering is not sufficient.