Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were (a) held informally under the Mental Health Act 1983 and (b) otherwise detained in assessment and treatment units in December (i) 2024, (ii) 2023, (iii) 2022 and (iv) 2021.

The Assuring Transformation data set records information about people with a learning disability and autistic people who are receiving treatment or care as inpatients in a mental health hospital. Patients in assessment and treatment units (ATUs) in England are recorded in the Assuring Transformation data set under the bed type Acute Mental Health Unit for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism.

We are only able to identify ATUs in Assuring Transformation from April 2024. Therefore, we are unable to determine the how many patients were in ATUs, including those detained under the Mental Health Act and informal patients, for the requested periods of December 2023, 2022, and 2021.

In December 2024 there were 160 inpatients detained in Acute Mental Health Units for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism under the Mental Health Act. In addition to this, there were 15 informal patients in such settings at this time. These figures include patients in in ATUs, but may also include some patients who were in other inpatient mental health settings.