Mental health quality indicator profile

About this release

This quarterly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on mental health quality indicators in support of the Mental health and wellbeing strategy 2023 and Core Mental Health Standards. Originally developed as a standard publication (previous versions available here), the dashboard has been developed to provide enhanced visualisation, sub-national data analysis (where available), and improved interaction for users. The Mental Health Quality Indicators (MHQI) publication was first released in March 2020 to provide an overview of Mental Health Services across Scotland, by combining previously published and new information into a single profile, supporting Action 38 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027. The dashboard will be regularly updated when data is available, further indicators have been developed, and when new indicators are identified which fall under its remit.

Plans for development can be found on the front page of the main dashboard for the publication.

Main points

In the quarter ending 30 June 2026:

• For every 100,000 adults aged 18 or over, 4,157 days were spent in a psychiatric hospital following an emergency admission. This rate compares with 4,660 per 100,000 in the quarter ending 30 June 2025 and 4,012 per 100,000 in the quarter ending 30 June 2024.
• 7.3% of discharges from psychiatric hospital care resulted in an emergency readmission to hospital within 28 days of discharge. This compares with 7.2% in the quarter ending 30 June 2025 and 8.2% in the quarter ending 30 June 2024
• 53.8% (21/39) of psychiatric hospital admissions for patients aged under 18 years were admitted to wards other than NHS specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) wards. This compares with 59.6% (31/52) in the quarter ending March 31, 2026, and 44.8% (26/58), 34.2% (26/76) and 43.7% (31/71) in the preceding quarters to quarter ending 30 June 2025.

Background

This MHQI release is the seventh update of the new dashboard format and provides updated data for eleven indicators.

At sub-national level, there are quarterly updates for eight indicators:

• T1 - % of people who commence psychological therapy based treatment within 18 weeks of referral
• T2 - % of young people who commence treatment by specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services within 18 weeks of referral
• S2 - % of all discharged psychiatric inpatients followed up by community mental health services within 7 calendar days
• S5 - Incidents of physical violence per 1,000 occupied psychiatric bed days
• EF5 - % of 'did not attend appointments' for community-based services of people with mental health conditions
• EF1 - Rate of emergency bed days for adults in psychiatric hospital beds
• EF2 - Mental health emergency readmissions to hospital within 28 days of discharge
• EQ4 - % of under 18 year old psychiatric admissions admitted out with NHS specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) wards

Also at sub-national level, there are annual updates for two indicators:

• EF3 - Total psychiatric inpatient beds per 100,000 population (NRAC adjusted)
• EF4 - Total mental health spend as a percentage (%) of total spend

At national level, there is one annual update:

• T3 - % of people who wait less than three weeks from referral received to appropriate drug or alcohol treatment that supports their recovery.

The dashboard will continue to be developed with enhanced visualisation and updated data released on a quarterly basis.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 26 January 2027.