Mental Health Spotlight Audit
About
The NACEL Mental Health Spotlight Audit will run alongside the audit of acute and community hospital providers in 2025.
The Spotlight Audit will review the quality and outcomes of care experienced by the dying person (18+) and those important to them during the last admission to a mental health inpatient facility in England, Wales and Jersey.
Data collected by the audit will build on the learning from the 2021 spotlight audit. Supporting a national picture of care delivered at the end of life, and support healthcare providers and policy makers identify areas for improvement. NACEL is featured on NHS England’s Quality Accounts list for 2024/25.
Registration for the NACEL 2025 Mental Health Spotlight Audit is now open!
The audit is open to all mental health inpatient providers in England, Wales and Jersey. Eligible organisations are asked to register for the audit via the NHS Benchmarking Network members’ area. Register here.
Data collection
An overview of the NACEL 2025 Mental Health Spotlight Audit Timescales can be found here. There will be three data collection elements of the audit:
1. Trust/Health Board Overview: Specific questions pertaining to the Trust/Health Board (3-month collection).
2. Case Note Review: A review of deaths over a specified period will be conducted (collection throughout the year).
3. Staff Reported Measure: Staff members who are most likely to interact with dying patients and their loved ones will participate in an online survey to provide their insights (collection throughout the year).
Guidance and support
The audit guidance and data specifications will be released over the coming weeks to allow organisations to prepare for data collection opening in January 2025.
A warm up event will be held on 4th November 2024, 12pm - 1pm via MS Teams. Here, the NACEL Team will outline each audit element for the NACEL 2025 Mental Health Spotlight Audit and there will be opportunities to ask questions throughout. Register for the warm up event via the Events Page, here.
Please direct any queries the NACEL support team by email: nhsbn.nacelsupport@nhs.net
