Testimonials
Demand and Capacity Review - Hampshire and Isle of Wight
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to undertake a demand and capacity review of community and inpatient mental health services across children, adolescent, and adult pathways. This work was initiated in the context of the upcoming merger of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Solent NHS Trust, and Isle of Wight NHS Trust into a single organisation – Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The merger aims to improve access, experience, and outcomes for the local population by addressing health inequalities and delivering a consistent service offer across the region.
Working in partnership with system stakeholders, a comprehensive benchmarking review was delivered using data drawn from the 2023/24 annual mental health data sets, alongside publicly available data accessed via the NHSBN National Indicators platform. These data sources enabled the creation of a single reference point to baseline the current service position without additional data burden. The findings have been presented to enable stakeholders to identify variation, highlight opportunities for improvement, develop a robust data quality approach and support strategic planning in this newly merged organisation.
Neurodevelopmental Collection - The Scottish Government
The Scottish Government commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to design and deliver a bespoke data collection to benchmark and describe neurodevelopmental pathways for children and young people across Scotland. This work aligns with the National Neurodevelopmental Specification and supports the principles of delivering timely, localised care, as reaffirmed in the Scottish Government’s policy statement Getting it right for every child.
A key driver for the work was the recognition that many children and young people with neurodevelopmental profiles do not meet the criteria for CAMHS, despite having significant needs. This was addressed in the 2021 National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care, which outlines expectations for delivering appropriate and accessible services for this population. Currently, around 25% of mainstream pupils in Scotland require additional support, with approximately 10% having neurodevelopmental differences.
The insight from this work provides a robust foundation for the Scottish Government and its partners across NHS Scotland, local authorities, and other sectors to better understand current provision and was used to inform service improvement, support more equitable and timely access, and ensure that children and young people with neurodevelopmental needs receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
The Scottish Government commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to undertake a bespoke data collection and analysis of adult and older people’s mental health services in Scotland. This work has provided valuable insights to support both policy development and implementation.
The findings have helped us understand our progress towards the implementation of the Core Mental Health Standards. These standards aim to improve the quality and safety of mental health services, initially focused on adult secondary services. They seek to reduce unwarranted variation in care and address inequalities in experience and outcomes.
The work undertaken by the NHS Benchmarking Network provides data for the Scottish Government and wider partners to better understand current provision. It will also inform local improvement activities, and improvement support delivered by Healthcare Improvement Scotland to Health Boards as they implement the Standards.’
Core Mental Health Framework Deep Dive - Adult & Older People’s Mental Health Services
NHS England South West Mental Health Programme commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to deliver a regional deep dive into adult community and inpatient mental health services. This work built on the 2022 Mental Health Analytics for the South West Region (NHSBN) report, providing an updated analysis using the most up-to-date data from our Adults and Older People Mental Health Services Benchmarking Collection.
Regional Deep Dive into Adult Community and Inpatient Mental Health Services - NHS England South West
The report focused on mapping the patient journey across both community and inpatient mental health services, incorporating both generic and specialist areas such as crisis response, liaison psychiatry, and inpatient care. The aim was to highlight areas of good practice while identifying opportunities to strengthen service delivery across the region.
Data was submitted by seven provider organisations in the South West, forming the primary evidence base for this analysis. In addition, selected population health metrics were used to provide context on regional needs and pressures. The final report includes a synthesis of findings and key messages to guide regional decision-making, support service development, and promote equitable and timely access to mental health services for adults across the South West.
Since 2021, the Mental Health Programme in NHS England South West has engaged in a close partnership with NHS Benchmarking. This collaboration has resulted in the commissioning of several significant projects, including comprehensive reviews of community and inpatient services for Children and Young People, system-wide benchmarking to assess the broader determinants of mental health, and detailed analysis of specialist Eating Disorder services for both adults and children across the South West.
As a regional team, we have consistently prioritised initiatives that yield the greatest benefits to our systems, support their operational efforts, and ultimately enhance the well-being of the populations they serve. The collaborative methodology employed by NHS Benchmarking in data collection, report generation, and analysis presentation has been highly regarded across the region. This partnership has empowered our systems with superior data and insights, enabling informed decision-making, performance improvement, and enabled the delivery of exceptional care to their communities.
We are profoundly grateful for the opportunity to work in this manner with NHS Benchmarking and are committed to continuing this collaboration.
- Ursula James, Associate Mental Health Director, NHS England South West Mental Health Programme
Mental Health Programme in NHS England South West
Capacity and Demand across Adult and Older Adult Inpatient Services- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to support them in developing a clearer understanding of capacity and demand across its adult and older adult inpatient services, encompassing adult acute, older people’s care, long-term complex care, high dependency, and PICU settings. This work aligns with recent investment in the modernisation and development of mental health inpatient facilities.
To support this transformation, the NHS Benchmarking Network worked with stakeholders in NSFT to provide timely, data-led insight into the current inpatient landscape. Using data held from our Adult’s and Older People’s Annual Mental Health Collection, the aim was to support strategic decision-making regarding how to best utilise the new inpatient estate, reduce reliance on out of area and independent sector placements, and enhance access to care closer to home.
A particular emphasis has been placed on understanding the inpatient context within the broader care pathway. This includes reviewing activity and access across community and crisis services to better understand flow, pressure points, and opportunities for rebalancing care between inpatient and community settings.
Beds Mapping Tool - NHS England
This work focused on enabling organisations to gain a comprehensive and transparent view of inpatient service models for mental health, learning disability, and autism care. Developed in collaboration with the national Quality Transformation Programme, it combined multiple datasets—both national and locally held—into a unified database.
This cross-referenced approach provided clear visibility into bed types, care models, and service configurations, aligned with data from NHS England, the CQC, and other relevant sources. A bespoke data collection was designed for all eligible providers in England, focusing only on essential data items to minimise burden. Where possible, existing NHS Benchmarking Network data and public sources were used to pre-populate fields, streamlining participation. The final output included intuitive visualisations and mapping tools, supporting systems and providers to assess current capacity, improve commissioning decisions, and drive meaningful service transformation. This project was commissioned for two consecutive years to build on the initial baseline data and further support this work.
Suicide Data Map - Zero Suicide Alliance
The Zero Suicide Alliance commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to develop an interactive suicide data map—an intelligence tool designed to share and visualise data related to suicide, its risk factors, and broader mental health and wellbeing across England.
The tool brings together over 100 indicators from multiple data sources, covering suicide incidence, health and social risk factors, at-risk populations, and service demand and provision. Updated biannually, the purpose of the map is to support awareness, strategic planning, benchmarking, and targeted suicide prevention efforts. Each indicator was clearly sourced and timestamped, ensuring transparency and reliability. Users can interact with the suicide data map by selecting indicators through a tiered drop-down menu, filtering by date, viewing time series trends, and exploring area-specific dashboards with comparisons to national averages. The tool also allows users to zoom, view underlying data tables, download individual charts, maps or full datasets, and share specific views via direct links. The dashboard can be viewed here.
Benchmarking Survey - Independent Doctors Survey
The NHS Benchmarking Network were commissioned to deliver Phase 1 of the Independent Doctors Federation Benchmarking Survey in September 2023, with the aim of supporting general practices in the independent sector to benchmark patient care against best practice standards, foster a culture of quality improvement, and align with updated CQC requirements for Good Governance (Regulation 17).
Developed in collaboration with IDF colleagues, the project includes a dashboard that presents both practice and patient experience data to offer a comprehensive view of care. The Practice Survey focuses on the management of hypertension, hypothyroidism, and statin prescribing—capturing information on prevalence, prescribing patterns, and monitoring. Alongside this, the Patient Survey gathers feedback on patients' experiences in accessing appointments and their overall satisfaction with the care they received.
The Independent Doctors Federation (IDF) is the UK’s leading independent doctors' organisation, seeking to empower independent doctors to achieve greater freedom and excellence in patient care.