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Children and young people waiting times (referral spells) quick guide to submitting data

This guidance has been developed to support the improvement of the quality and completeness of data submitted to the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) used in the analysis of children and young people waiting times (referral spells).

Page contents

Background

As part of the September 2024 performance publication in the Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication series, a new set of metrics were introduced which utilise a new methodology. This groups sets of individual referrals into a referral spell. Using this methodology, a spell is defined as starting at the point the first referral that is in scope is received by a provider. From this point, other referrals can form part of a referral spell where they are open concurrently or where the next referral opens within 5 days of the previous referral ending. 

Only referrals which fall within the inclusion and exclusion criteria will make up the referral spell. Where a person has other open referrals within the same provider that are not in scope for either of the two pathways, these referrals will not be included in the spell.

The clinically led review of standards recommended a move away from ‘contact based’ metrics and towards understanding when meaningful activity has taken place. This is why we will be reporting on the wait from referral to help starting and not just the first or second contact that a patient has with a service. The full details of the clock stop criteria are found in the sections below but the clock stops are made up of a combination of a baseline outcome, care plan, intervention and assessment being recorded for the referral spell. Once all of these elements are recorded, the full clock stop is recorded.

NHS England publishes 26 monthly measures for children and young people (CYP) referral spells in the MHSDS monthly publications.

Full details of CYP referral spells metrics are available in the metadata file and Mental Health Services publication list. 

SNOMED reference sets

Clock-stops within referral spells are determined by aligning activity with specific SNOMED codes within four mental health reference sets. These reference sets are described below and can be downloaded by subscribing to the SNOMED CT human readable subset UK Clinical Extension on TRUD. 

Reference set Description
Assessment procedures MHSDS assessment procedures simple reference set
Medication and physical therapy interventions MHSDS medication and physical therapy interventions simple reference set 
Psychological therapies  MHSDS psychological therapies simple reference set
Psychosocial interventions MHSDS psychosocial interventions simple reference set

Data needed for recording in-scope referrals for CYP referral spells

Inclusion criteria

MHS001MPI

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
NHSNumber A number used to identify a patient uniquely within the NHS in England and Wales. Needed to link single patient with multiple referrals into single/multiple referral spells.
PersonBirthDate The date on which a person was born or is officially deemed to have been born. Needed to derive Age at Referral Request Received Date. People aged between 0 and 17 at time of referral are in scope of CYP referral spells. This means that some people in scope of the measure may be 18 or over currently.

MHS101Referral

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells

ReferralRequestReceivedDate

 This is the date the referral request was received by the health care provider Needed to calculate waiting times and combine overlapping referrals into a spell. Only referrals from 1 January 2016 are included.
ServDischDate Service Discharge Date is the date a patient was discharged from a service. This would occur once all the services or teams (for example as part of a multidisciplinary team) have finished treating a patient under a specific referral. Needed to calculate waiting times and combine overlapping referrals into a spell.
ReferRejectionDate The date the referral request to a health care provider's service was rejected by the health care provider's service. The overarching referral may remain open if another service or team involved in the same referral is still actively treating the patient. Where a referral is rejected, this is used as the end date of the referral if no service discharge date is populated.

MHS102OtherServiceType

Note that this table only needs to be submitted where a patient is referred to more than one service/team within the same referral. For more information read the guidance for reporting service or team type quick guide to submitting MHSDS. 

Data item Description  Notes specific to CYP referral spells
ReferRejectionDate The date the referral request to a health care provider's service was rejected by the health care provider's service. The overarching referral may remain open if another service or team involved in the same referral is still actively treating the patient. Where a referral is rejected, this is used as the end date of the referral if no service discharge date is populated.
ReferClosureDate The date the referral request to a health care provider's service was closed by the health care provider's service. The overarching referral may remain open if another service or team involved in the same referral is still actively treating the patient. If no service discharge date and no referral rejection date is populated, this is used as the end date of the referral.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusions for in-scope referrals for CYP referral spells

Exclusion criteria Exclusion description Exclusion details
Providers Excluding digital providers Excluding referrals with provider code ‘DFC’, ‘S9X2N’, ‘F9R5H’, or ‘B4A3L.
Inpatients Non-inpatient only Excluding any referrals with an associated hospital spell record.
Team types Excluding crisis care referrals

Exclude where team type is either: Crisis Resolution/Home Treatment Service (A02), Psychiatric Liaison Service (A11), 24/7 Crisis Response Line (A19), Health Based Place of Safety Service (A20), Crisis Café/Safe Haven/Sanctuary Service (A21), Walk-in Crisis Assessment Unit Service (A22), Psychiatric Decision Unit Service (A23), Acute Day Service (A24), Crisis House Service (A25), Paediatric Liaison Service (C05).

Exclude where team type is Single Point of Access service (A18) AND Clinical response priority is recorded as either Emergency (1), Very Urgent (4) or Urgent/Serious (2).
Team types Excluding referrals in-scope of early intervention in psychosis (EIP) waiting times. Exclude where team type is Early Intervention in Psychosis (A14) AND primary reason for referral recorded as suspected first episode of psychosis (01).
Team types Excluding referrals in-scope of CYP-ED waiting times. Exclude where primary reason for referral is recorded as eating disorder (12), unless the team type is recorded as either SPA (A18) or MHST (F01).
Team types Exclude LD activity Exclude where team type is either: Epilepsy/Neurological Service (E02), Specialist Parenting Service (E03), Enhanced/Intensive Support Service (E04).

Construction of CYP referral spells

For a spell to be considered ‘open’ at the end of the reporting period, both of the following conditions must be met:

  1. At least 1 ‘in-scope’ referral must flow to MHSDS in the reporting period. For example, a spell can only be considered open at the end of the ‘May 2025’ reporting period if an ‘in-scope’ referral was included in the May 2025 submission. 
  2. At least 1 of the referrals within the submission for the reporting period must be considered open at the end of the reporting period

Below are 3 examples which demonstrate the construction of spells.

Example 1

Referral 1 is received on 1 January 2024 and is submitted each month until April 2024, with no discharge/rejection/closure date recorded. It is categorised as closed (inactive) from 30 April 2024.

Referral 2 is received on 15 April 2024, submitted each month until September 2024 with a discharge date recorded on 7 September 2024. It is categorised as closed (discharged) on 7 September 2024.

Because these referrals are open concurrently, referral 1 and referral 2 are combined into a spell. The resulting referral-spell is counted as starting on 1 January 2024 and categorised as open to 7 September 2024 where it is closed.

Example 2

Referral 1 is received on 1 January 2024 and is submitted each month until April 2024, with a discharge date recorded on 14 April 2024. It is categorised as closed (discharged) from 14 April 2024.

Referral 2 is received on 15 April 2024, submitted each month until September 2024 and discharged on 7 September 2024. It is categorised as closed (discharged) on 7 September 2024.

Because referral 2 opens within 5 days of referral 1 ending, referral 1 and referral 2 are combined into a spell. The resulting referral-spell is counted as starting on 1 January 2024 and categorised as open to 7 September 2024 where it is closed.

Example 3

Referral 1 is received on 1 January 2024 and is submitted each month until March 2024, with no discharge/rejection/closure date recorded. It is categorised as closed (inactive) from 31 March 2024.

Referral 2 is received on 15 April 2024, submitted each month until September 2024 and discharged on 7th September 2024. It is categorised as closed (discharged) on 7 September 2024.

Because the ‘end date’ of referral 1 is assumed to be 31 March 2024, referrals 1 and 2 are not open concurrently and referral 2 does not open within 5 days of referral 1 ending – the referrals are not combined into a spell. Therefore these 2 referrals constitute 2 separate referral spells – referral 1 is spell 1 and referral 2 is spell 2.

In March 2024 reporting, spell 1 is considered ‘open at the end of the reporting period’ because referral 1 has been submitted to MHSDS in March 2024 and no discharge date has been populated. In April 2024 reporting, spell 1 is not considered ‘open at the end of the reporting period’ as referral 1 was not submitted to MHSDS in April 2024. The start date of spell 1 is 1 January 2024 and the end date is 31 March 2024.

In August 2024 reporting, spell 2 is considered ‘open at the end of the reporting period’ because referral 2 has been submitted to MHSDS in August 2024 with no discharge date in the August 2024 submission. In September 2024 reporting, spell 2 is not considered ‘open at the end of the reporting period’ as referral 2 was submitted to MHSDS in September 2024 with a discharge date of 7 September 2024. The start date of spell 2 is 15  April 2024 and the end date is 7 September 2024.

Closing a CYP referral spell

Guidance on how spells are considered 'open' at the end of the reporting period can be found in the construction of CYP referral spells section.

A spell is closed when the last referral within the spell is recorded as closed by any of the following:

  • recording a service discharge date
  • recording referral rejection date
  • recording a referral closure date
  • no longer submitting the referral (to be used in cases where the referral is no longer open but the service discharge date or referral rejection date/referral closure date cannot be submitted due to data validation rules in MHSDS)
  • if the referral moves from ‘in-scope’ of CYP referral spells to ‘out-of-scope’ of CYP referral spells (for example where the team type in the last open referral in the spell has been updated from a CMHT (A06) to a Paediatric Liaison Service (C05)
Example 1: Service discharge date

Spell 1 is comprised of a two referrals referrals A and B. Referral A has already been closed but referral B remains open up until the May 26 reporting period. Referral B is discharged on the 15 May 2026. A service discharge date of 15 May 2026 is submitted to MHSDS and no further ‘in-scope’ referrals are submitted within 5 days of referral B. ending. The end date of spell 1 is 15 May 2026.

Example 2: Referral rejection date

Spell 2 is comprised of a two referrals referrals A and B. Referral A has already been closed but referral B remains open up until the May-26 reporting period. Referral B is rejected on the 15 May 2026. A referral rejection date of 15 May 2026 is submitted to MHSDS and no further ‘in-scope’ referrals are submitted within 5 days of referral B. ending. The end date of spell 2 is 15 May 2026.

Example 3: Referral closure date

Spell 3 is comprised of a two referrals referrals A and B. Referral A has already been closed but referral B remains open up until the May-26 reporting period. Referral B is closed on the 15 May 2026. A referral closure date of 15 May 2026 is submitted to MHSDS and no further ‘in-scope’ referrals are submitted within 5 days of referral B. ending. The end date of spell 3 is 15 May 2026.

Example 4: No longer submitting the referral

Spell 4 is comprised of one referral – referral A. Referral A was discharged on the 30 March 2026 but there was no service discharge date submitted to MHSDS in the Mar-26 reporting period.

If submissions for Mar-26 are still open, the provider can resubmit that referral with the appropriate discharge date. If no further ‘in-scope’ referrals are submitted within 5 days of referral A ending, the end day of spell 4 is 30 March 2026.

If submissions for Mar-26 are no longer open, the provider needs to stop submitting the referral to MHSDS for subsequent reporting periods. If no further ‘in-scope’ referrals are submitted within 5 days of referral A ending, the end day of spell 4 is assumed to be 31 March 2026 (the end date of the reporting period the last time the record flowed to MHSDS).

Example 5: Moving from ‘in-scope’ to ‘out-of-scope’

Spell 5 is comprised of two referrals – referral A and B. Referral A has already been closed but referral B remains open up until the May-26 reporting period.

For reporting periods prior to May-26 referral B was submitted with a team type of A06 (Community Mental Health Team – Functional). In the May-26 submission, the provider updates that team type to C05 (Paediatric Liaison Service).

As C05 is a team type that is not in-scope of CYP referral spells, then the CYP referral spell is no longer considered ‘open’ as there are no ‘in-scope’ referrals still open. But the referral is still considered open in MHSDS unless it is closed using the mechanisms described above.

The end date of spell 5 is assumed to be April 30 2026 (the end date of the reporting period the last time the referral flowed while ‘in-scope’).

Please note that if a subsequent ‘in-scope’ referral was opened within 5 days of April 30 2026 which is still open at the end of the May-26 reporting period, then spell 5 would be considered open at the end of the May-26 reporting period.

Pathways

From the October 2025 performance publication, new CYP referral spell ‘pathways’ breakdowns will be published. 

These referral-spell breakdowns will allocate referral-spell data into four overlapping categories based on primary reason for referral and service/team type. The categories are:

  • autism
  • other neurodevelopmental
  • gender identity
  • all ‘other’ referrals 

These categories represent an overlapping ‘Venn diagram’ of waiters – who could appear in multiple groups.

Given these overlaps, and to emphasise that the categories aren’t mutually exclusive, we will publish a fifth grouping, showing the number of referral-spells which appear in at least one of the neurodevelopmental or gender categories and in the ‘other’ category, highlighting the scale of the overlap.

These breakdowns offer some improved clarity around the inclusion of neurodevelopmental waits in CYP referral spells, however they cannot and should not be used as neurodevelopmental waiting lists in and of themselves.

For further information on neurodevelopmental data, see the recently established neurodevelopmental data hub.

Construction of pathways

Pathways are determined by 2 criteria

  • primary reason for referral
  • service or team type

For primary reason for referral the 'latest record' for each referral is used as there should only ever be one primary reason for referral for each referral and therefore any updates are likely due to data quality issues.

For service or team type, any service or team type recorded at any time whilst the referral is in scope is used to assign pathways. In MHSDS a single referral can have multiple service or team types associated therefore all team types are considered for pathways.

The table below lists the criteria used for the autism, other neurodevelopmental and gender identity pathways. Either the latest primary reason for referral or the service or team type associated at any point while the referral was in-scope must meet the criteria for a pathway.

Pathway Pathway Table Data item Value
a Gender identity MHS101Referral PrimReasonReferralMH 20 – Gender Discomfort issues
b Other neurodevelopmental MHS101Referral PrimReasonReferralMH 24 – Neurodevelopmental Conditions, excluding Autism
b Other neurodevelopmental MHS902ServiceTeamDetails ServTeamTypeMH C04 – Neurodevelopment Team
c Autism  MHS101Referral PrimReasonReferralMH

25 – Suspected Autism

26 – Diagnosed Autism
c Autism MHS902ServiceTeamDetails ServTeamTypeMH C01 – Autism Service

All ‘other’ referrals are classed as pathway ‘d’, for a referral to be assigned pathway ‘d’ the following conditions need to be met:

  • the latest primary reason for referral is not populated or is not in 20, 24, 25 or 26 and
  • there must be a service or team type associated at any point while the referral was in-scope that was not populated or is not in ‘C01’, ‘C04’

Once each referral within the spell is assigned pathways, the spell is assigned the pathways based on those.

Example 1: Single Referral attributed to a single pathway

Spell 1 is made up of a single referral – referral 1. The referral starts on 1 May 2024 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period. No service or team type and no primary reason for referral are submitted for the referral up to the July-26 reporting period.

In July-26 reporting, the referral is allocated pathway ‘d’. This is because there is no team type and no primary reason for referral. Because referral 1 is the only referral in spell 1, then spell 1 is only assigned pathway ‘d’.

In the August-26 reporting period, the provider submits the referral but updates the primary reason for referral to ’25 – Suspected Autism’. Because the latest primary reason for referral is used for allocation, in August-26 reporting referral 1 is allocated pathway ‘c’. Because referral 1 is the only referral in spell 1, then spell 1 is only assigned pathway ‘c’.

Example 2: Single Referral attributed to multiple pathways

Spell 2 is made up of a single referral – referral 1. The referral starts on 1 May 2024 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period. No primary reason for referral are submitted for the referral for the entire duration the referral is open. Up to the July-26 reporting period, the provider submits the team type as A06 (Community Mental Health Team – Functional).

In July-26 reporting, the referral is allocated pathway ‘d’. This is because there is no primary reason for referral and the team code is a pathway ‘d’ team. Because referral 1 is the only referral in spell 2, then spell 2 is only assigned pathway ‘d’.

In the August-26 reporting period, the provider submits the referral but updates the team type to C04 (Neurodevelopment team). Because the primary reason for referral is not populated in the latest reporting period and there exists a pathway ‘d’ referral team type in the spell (the referral up to July-26) then the referral is assigned pathway ‘d’ (for the wait up until July-26). Because the team type is updated to a Neurodevelopmental team (August-26), then the referral is also assigned pathway ‘b’. Because the referral is assigned pathway ‘b’ and pathway ‘d’, then the spell is assigned pathway ‘b’ and pathway ‘d’.

Example 3: Multiple Referrals attributed to a single pathway

Spell 3 is made up of 2 referrals – referral 1 and referral 2. Referral 1 starts on 1 May 2024 and is discharged on 31 December 2024. Referral 2 is open from 1 January 2025 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period.

Referral 1 was submitted to MHSDS for the entire period it was open with the A06 (Community Mental Health Team – Functional) team type and ’04-Depression’ as the primary reason for referral.

Referral 2 has been submitted to MHSDS for the entire period it was open with the A06 (Community Mental Health Team – Functional) team type and no primary reason for referral.

Referral 1 is assigned pathway ‘d’ and referral 2 is assigned pathway ‘d’. Therefore as there are overlapping referrals with the same pathways, spell 3 is assigned only pathway ‘d’.

Example 4: Multiple Referrals attributed to multiple pathways

Spell 4 is made up of 2 referrals – referral 1 and referral 2. Referral 1 starts on 1 May 2024 and is discharged on 31 December 2024. Referral 2 is open from 1 January 2025 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period.

Referral 1 was submitted to MHSDS for the entire period it was open with the Z02 (Other Mental Health Service - out of scope of National Tariff Payment System) team type and no primary reason for referral.

Referral 2 has been submitted to MHSDS for the entire period it was open with the C04 (Neurodevelopment team) team type and no primary reason for referral.

Referral 1 is assigned pathway ‘d’ and referral 2 is assigned pathway ‘b’. Therefore as there are overlapping referrals with different pathways, spell 4 is assigned pathway ‘b’ and pathway ‘d’.

Data needed for recording full clock stops for CYP referral spells

Definition of full clock-stop

The full clock stop is recorded for children and young people. It is defined in the table below. Please note that clock-stop criteria can be taken from any referral within the spell.

Criteria Description
Care Contact The spell must have at least one care contact
Baseline Outcome The spell must have a baseline outcome recorded
Agreed care plan
or
SNOMED intervention code
or
ADHD/ASD assessment code recorded		 The spell must have any one of these conditions met
Example 1: Single Referral in the spell (contact, outcome and agreed care plan recorded but no intervention or ADHD/ASD assessment) 

Spell 1 is made up on a single referral – referral 1. The referral starts on 1 May 2024 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period. The first care contact is recorded on 18 May 2024 and the first outcome measure is recorded on the 17 May 2024. 

The first agreed care plan recorded on 25 September 2024.

The clock-stop date for spell 1 is the 25 September 2024.

Example 2: Single Referral in the spell (contact, outcome, agreed care plan recorded and intervention recorded but no ADHD/ASD assessment) 

Spell 2 is made up on a single referral – referral 1. The referral starts on 1 March 2025 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period. The first care contact is recorded on 15 March 2025 and the first outcome measure is recorded on 18 August 2025. 

The first agreed care plan recorded on the 29 September 2025. The first ‘in-scope’ SNOMED intervention is recorded against the referral on 19 August 2025.

The clock-stop date for spell 2 is the 19 August 2025.
 

Example 3: Multiple Referrals in the spell (all clock-stop criteria in a single referral)

Spell 3 is made up of 2 referrals – referral 1 and referral 2. Referral 1 starts on 1 May 2024 and is discharged on 31 December 2024. Referral 2 is open from 1 January 2025 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period.

The first care contact for referral 1 is recorded on 5 May 2024 and the first outcome measure is recorded on 18 May 2024.

The first ADHD assessment for referral 1 is recorded on 25 May 2024.

The first care contact for referral 2 is recorded on 17 January 2025 and the first outcome measure is recorded on 25 March 2025.

The first SNOMED intervention for referral 2 is recorded on 15 May 2025.

Referral 1 has already met all of the clock-stop criteria are therefore the clock-stop date for spell 3 is 25 May 2024.

Example 4: Multiple Referrals in the spell (clock-stop criteria across multiple referrals)

Spell 4 is made up of 2 referrals – referral 1 and referral 2. Referral 1 starts on 1 May 2024 and is discharged on 31 December 2024. Referral 2 is open from 1 January 2025 and is still open at the end of the August-26 reporting period.

The first care contact for referral 1 is recorded on 5 May 2024.

The first ADHD assessment for referral 1 is recorded on 25 May 2024.

The first care contact for referral 2 is recorded on 17 January 2025 and the first outcome measure is recorded on 25 March 2025.

The first SNOMED intervention for referral 2 is recorded on 15 May 2025.

Because referral 1 has no outcome measure recorded against it, the outcome is taken from referral 2.

Therefore the clock-stop date for spell 4 is 25 March 2025.

Recording of Care Contacts

MHS201CareContact

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CareContDate The date on which a care contact took place, or, if cancelled, was scheduled to take place. To include care contacts which only took place during the CYP referral spell.
AttendStatus This indicates whether or not an appointment for a care contact took place. If the appointment did not take place it also indicates whether or not advanced warning was given.

Include where:

  • 5 - Attended on time or, if late, before the relevant care professional was ready to see the patient
  • 6 - Arrived late, after the relevant care professional was ready to see the patient, but was seen
ConsMechanismMH The communication mechanism used to relay information between the care professional and the person who is the subject of the consultation, during a care contact. Include where:
  • 01 - Face to face
  • 02 - Telephone
  • 04 - Talk type for a person unable to speak
  • 11 - Video consultation

MHS204IndirectActivity

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
IndirectActDate The date that the indirect activity took place. To include care contacts which only took place during the CYP referral spell.

Recording of agreed care plans

MHS008CarePlanType

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CarePlanLastUpdateDate

The date that the care plan was last updated for a patient.

Where the care plan has not otherwise been updated this will be the same as the care plan creation date.

 To include care plans which only took place during the CYP referral spell.
CarePlanCreateDate The date that a care plan was created for a patient. To include care plans which only took place during the CYP referral spell.

MHS009CarePlanAgreement

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CarePlanID A unique identifier for a care plan. Needed to link to MHS008 record. Only agreed care plans are included.

Recording of SNOMED interventions

MHS201CareContact

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CareContDate The date on which a Care Contact took place, or, if cancelled, was scheduled to take place. To include care contacts which only took place during the CYP referral spell.

MHS202CareActivity

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
Procedure A structured combination of one or more SNOMED CT concept identifiers which are used to describe a patient procedure To include SNOMED CT interventions from the psychological therapies, psychosocial interventions, or medication and physical therapies groups of the reference set. 

MHS204IndirectActivity

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
IndirectActDate The date that the indirect activity took place. To include care contacts which only took place during the CYP referral spell.
IndActProcedure A structured combination of one or more SNOMED CT concept identifiers which are used to identify a patient procedure for an indirect activity. To include SNOMED CT interventions from the psychological therapies, psychosocial interventions, or medication and physical therapies groups of the reference set.

Recording of SNOMED assessments

MHS201CareContact

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CareContDate The date on which a care contact took place, or, if cancelled, was scheduled to take place. To include care contact assessments which only took place during the CYP referral spell.

 MHS202CareActivity

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
Procedure A structured combination of one or more SNOMED CT concept identifiers which are used to describe a patient procedure

Only includes the codes:

  • Autism spectrum disorder diagnostic assessment (1085671000000109)
  • Diagnostic assessment for ADHD (1914891000000100)

 MHS204IndirectActivity

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
IndirectActDate The date that the indirect activity took place. To include care contacts which only took place during the CYP referral spell.
IndActProcedure A structured combination of one or more SNOMED CT concept identifiers which are used to identify a patient procedure for an indirect activity.

Only includes the codes:

  • Autism spectrum disorder diagnostic assessment (1085671000000109)
  • Diagnostic assessment for ADHD (1914891000000100)

Recording of outcomes

MHS201CareContact

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CareContDate The date on which a care contact took place, or, if cancelled, was scheduled to take place. This is used to assign the date of outcomes where the outcomes was recorded as part of a care contact.

 MHS606CodedScoreAssessmentRefer

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
AssToolCompTimestamp The date, time and time zone on which the assessment took place This is used to assign the date of outcome where the outcome was recorded as part of a referral but not during a care contact.
CodedAssToolType The SNOMED CT concept ID which is used to identify an assessment in SNOMED CT. This includes all outcome measures that can flow to MHSDS excluding 'Current View'.

MHS607CodedScoreAssessmentAct

Data item Description Notes specific to CYP referral spells
CodedAssToolType The SNOMED CT concept ID which is used to identify an assessment in SNOMED CT. This includes all outcome measures that can flow to MHSDS excluding 'Current View'.

Mandatory tables needed for each MHSDS submission

The following 4 tables need to be submitted in each submission with their respective mandatory and required fields. More information can be found in the MHSDS user guidance and Technical Output Specification.

Table Description
MHS000Header Uniquely identifies each MHSDS submission made by the provider
MHS001MPI Uniquely identifies every patient and records personal details of each patient
MHS002GP Records details of the GP of every patient*
MHS101Referral Records details of every referral

* Whilst this is not specific to CYP referral spells, each patient must have a GP code recorded for their records to be accepted into the dataset. If you do not know the patient's GP code then the default 'V81997 - No Registered GP Practice', 'V81998 - GP Practice Code not applicable' or 'V81999 - GP Practice Code not known' codes can be used.

Note, that by using a default code, this may result in an ICB not being assigned to the patient. 

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Last edited: 13 October 2026 5:24 pm