Out of Area Placements in Mental Health Services in England

NHS Digital's Out of Area Placements collection captures details of all such placements in England from NHS and independent providers. This interim collection runs for 12 months to allow changes to the long-term Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS). The data is provided in CSV format under the OGL-UK-3.0 license.

Use Cases

• Analyze the frequency and distribution of out-of-area placements based on the national collection scope.
• Monitor mental health service capacity and patient flow based on placement data from NHS and independent providers.
• Inform policy changes for the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) based on interim collection findings.

Strengths

• Data collection is national in scope, covering all Out of Area Placements in England.
• Data is sourced from both NHS and independent providers, offering a broad perspective.
• The dataset is part of a structured transition to the long-term Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS).

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The collection is described as an interim 12-month period, suggesting potential temporal limits.

Provenance

Source

NHS Digital

Collection Method

Collection from NHS and independent healthcare providers.

Time Range

Interim 12-month collection period (specific dates not provided).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:33:07.078939; freshness should be verified.

Geography

England