Information about NHS specialist mental health services is provided in the following ways:

• The Mental Health Bulletin provides the most comprehensive statistics available on the range of specialist mental health services provided by the NHS both in hospital and in the community. The data source is the Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS).
• National Statistics about people being treated in hospital, or as outpatients, under mental health related specialities or diagnosed with mental health problems are provided through Hospital Episode and Hospital Outpatient Activity statistics.
  
  The main unit of recording is the Finished Consultant Episode (a period of admitted patient care under a consultant or allied healthcare professional within an NHS trust).
  
  The data also includes details of patients' age and may include details of diagnosis, treatment and the speciality of the consultant who treated them.