FOI reference: FOI-2025-2668
You asked
Please provide the following data for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (separately where possible), for the last five years (2019-2024), broken down annually:
1. General Psychiatric Detention Statistics
- The total number of individuals detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA).
- A breakdown by section type (e.g., Section 2, Section 3, Section 136).
- The average length of stay for detained individuals under each section.
- The percentage of patients discharged within 72 hours of a Section 2 detention.
- The percentage of Section 2 detentions converted into Section 3 detentions.
- The re-admission rate within 12 months of discharge (i.e., individuals detained again within a year).
2. Use of Forced Medication & Seclusion
- The number of recorded incidents of forced medication in inpatient psychiatric settings.
- The number of patients placed in seclusion/isolation and the average duration of seclusion per incident.
3. Psychiatric Detention and Long-Term Outcomes
- Any available statistics on employment status before and after psychiatric detention (e.g., percentage of previously employed individuals who return to work post-hospitalisation).
- Data on the number of professionals (e.g., healthcare, legal, education) who lose their jobs or professional registrations following psychiatric hospitalisation.
- The number of formal complaints or legal appeals filed against wrongful psychiatric detentions.
4. Forensic Psychiatry & Public Safety Concerns
- The number of forensic psychiatric patients (i.e., individuals diverted from prison to psychiatric care) currently housed in general psychiatric hospitals.
- Any available data on offences committed by forensic patients post-discharge.
5. Contextual Reports & Research (If Available)
- Any internal reports, briefing papers, or statistical analyses on trends in psychiatric detention, forced medication, and long-term patient outcomes conducted by your agency.
- Any research or reviews on the impact of psychiatric detention on employment and social reintegration.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We do not hold any data on detention, seclusion, medication or psychiatry of mental health patients in England and Wales. NHS England may be able to help you with some of this information. They can be contacted at england.contactus@nhs.net.
Information on the 3rd item in your request, is covered in our publication The impact of NHS Talking Therapies on monthly employee pay and employment status, England: April 2014 to December 2022.