Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) National Data Set

The Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services are Partners in Care and Health (PCH). We are working with the Social Care institute for Excellence to deliver the Continuous Adult Social Care and Public Health Improvement for Local Authorities and Practitioners contract. (This contract was direct awarded by the Department of Health and Social Care to the Improvement and Development Agency which is wholly owned by the Local Government Association.)

PCH helps councils to improve the way they deliver adult social care and public health services and helps Government understand the challenges faced by the sector. The programme is a trusted network for developing and sharing best practice, developing tools and techniques, providing support, and building connections. It is offered to councils without charge.

Partners in Care and Health (PCH) is leading a programme of work to deliver a project to support the development of a national Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) Data Set. It will support the work of the national AMHP Partnership Group, set up by the Office of the Chief Social Worker, and its data subgroup, which will act as the steering group for this work. This project will build on previous work in this area and draw on the input and engagement of AMHP leads as well as members of the steering group.

The Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) are Partners in Care and Health (PCH) working with well-respected organisations. PCH helps councils to improve the way they deliver adult social care and public health services and helps Government understand the challenges faced by the sector. The programme is a trusted network for developing and sharing best practice, developing tools and techniques, providing support, and building connections.

It is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and offered to councils without charge. The Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) places a number of statutory duties and responsibilities on councils with adult social services responsibility which include arrangements for Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) to consider carrying out an assessment under the MHA on their behalf. Currently, the only national data on AMHP activity is based on the number of people detained in hospital or placed under guardianship.

As a result, there is a significant gap in the available national data that illustrates the number and nature of referrals for MHA assessments, where the result is not an admission to hospital, and related 'demand management' information. In effect, the challenges facing this key area of council responsibility are obscured from sight. The need for a national AMHP referral and assessment dataset has been a long-standing priority for services and accepted as a non-legislative objective within the MHA reform programme.