Recommendations and next steps

Mental health data and statistics in Wales are at a crossroads, where the current approach could continue, or a new direction could be pursued where more data are made available. Continuing as things are would be frustrating both for those producing statistics and users. The alternative is challenging, with many barriers to overcome, but it offers numerous benefits for all those involved in mental health in Wales.

Our recommendations are designed to act as strategic facilitators for those involved in mental health data and statistics in Wales to help make the transition towards more comprehensive and higher-quality data smoother.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: Prioritise strong leadership and clear accountability: Effective leadership must be established to ensure that the core mental health dataset is prioritised and delivered effectively. This includes designating an individual or group with clear authority and responsibility for driving progress; securing required systems and training; mandating and standardising data collection; and addressing barriers such as resistance from health boards and competing demands on clinical staff. In the first instance we believe that responsibility for this lies with the Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, although the Minister could then delegate authority where appropriate. Sufficient resource must be in place to support continued progress, and we acknowledge that decisions may have to made around competing priorities where funding and resource constraints are present.

Recommendation 2: Those involved in the development of the core mental health dataset in Wales should take opportunities to learn from experiences in England and Northern Ireland. This will help to inform effective strategies and avoid common pitfalls, and could include:

• asking relevant individuals in England how they went about mandating data collection initially, what training is provided to those submitting data, and how they support organisations on an ongoing basis, both with providing data and ensuring they are of sufficient quality.
• speaking to those in Northern Ireland about the development of their outcomes framework and the Encompass system, how they have gone about this, what challenges and barriers they have encountered, and how they have overcome these.

While responsibility here lies chiefly with Digital Health and Care Wales, statisticians in the Welsh Government should also be involved to ensure that users’ needs are considered in the development of the dataset.

Recommendation 3: Statisticians from the Welsh Government and clinicians must be involved in the development and implementation of the core dataset. Their involvement will maximise the benefits of a change in data recording of this scale and ensure that the data collected are fit for statistical purposes.

Recommendation 4: Statisticians in the Welsh Government must find effective ways of engaging with users to identify their needs in relation to both the core dataset and future official statistics produced from the dataset. This will ensure that both the data and outputs are relevant and useful. As part of this, the Welsh Government could convene a mini-statistics assembly of users, including organisations such as the Wales Alliance for Mental Health, whose support and challenge could facilitate progress. This will help ensure the data collected are relevant and useful and support evidence-based improvements in services.

Next steps

We will continue to monitor the progress and delivery of the core dataset, which we consider is necessary for statistics to provide a comprehensive picture of mental health in Wales. We will continue to engage with statisticians in the Welsh Government as the core dataset is developed and to advocate for better statistics on this important topic.