Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2015

29 Aug 2016

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2015.

National Stats LogoThis report carries National Statistics designation and is the fourth statistical report on Mental Health Officers (MHOs) in Scotland to be produced by the SSSC.

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The Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2015 presents information on:

  • the number of practising MHOs in post at 7 December 2015, excluding long-term absentees
  • MHO trainees, leavers, vacancies and staffing shortfalls
  • some key aspects of the work carried out by MHOs in Scotland

Key points from the report are set out below:

  • The number of practising MHOs has increased by 2.0% to 670 in December 2015. The staffing whole time equivalent (WTE) has increased by 1.1%, from 602.9 on 1 December 2014 to 609.3 on 7 December 2015.
  • The MHO WTE rate per 100,000 people remains at 11.3 in 2015, lower than the high of 13.0 seen in 2011.
  • In 2015, 21 of Scotland’s local authorities reported a shortfall in their MHO staff resources, the same as in 2014. It would take approximately 40 additional full time exclusive MHOs to fill the shortfalls reported, which are at their highest level during the period covered by this report (2012-2015). Adults with Incapacity (AWI) was once again the most commonly reported specific shortfall area.
  • The number of MHOs involved in AWI work has increased by 8% from 2014 and now makes up 80% of the total workforce. It is also noted that higher proportions of the MHOs working in AWI and with mentally disordered offenders (MDO) belong to mental health teams.
  • The proportion of male MHOs stands at a third in 2015, the highest proportion seen during the period covered by this report (2012-2015).
  • In 2015 the proportion of MHOs aged 45 or more stands at three-quarters of the total workforce, the highest proportion seen during 2012-2015.
  • A total of 53 MHOs left the workforce between 1 December 2014 and 7 December 2015, a reduction of 15% over the previous year. Of these, about a quarter retired, about a quarter resigned and just under a third left for other reasons such as a career break or secondment.

As a National Statistics product, this publication complies with The Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008. The list of people who have pre-release access can be found here.

Data Tables and Charts, and blank Survey Template

Copies of the individual tables and charts in the report are available for download below in Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) format. In addition, the report's data tables are available in non-proprietary Comma Separated Values (CSV) format, individually and together in a compressed ZIP file. The provision of the data in these formats is intended to facilitate its analysis and re-use. Also available for download is the blank survey template used by survey respondents to submit their data for December 2015.

Description File type File size (KB)  
All tables and charts (Excel 2010) .xlsx 322.5 Download
All tables and charts (Open Document) .ods 306.5 Download
All tables (compressed CSV files) .zip 9.9 Download
MHOs: Nos & WTEs .csv 0.2 Download
Temporary/Cover MHOs .csv 0.2 Download
MHOs per population .csv 0.3 Download
MHOs: Age & Gender .csv 1.4 Download
MHOs: Ethnicity .csv 0.2 Download
MHO Trainees .csv 0.4 Download
MHO Leavers .csv 0.9 Download
MHO Vacancies .csv 1.1 Download
Proportion of Social Workers who are MHOs .csv 1.5 Download
MHOs: Type of Team .csv 0.5 Download
MHOs: Specialist Mental Health Teams .csv 0.6 Download
MHOs: Non-Mental Health Specialist Teams .csv 2.4 Download
MHOs: Exclusive positions .csv 1.9 Download
MHO work .csv 2.1 Download
Time series of MHOs by LA (headcount/WTE/WTE per pop) .csv 2.5 Download
Definitions of terms .csv 0.5 Download
Blank Survey Template 2015 (Excel 2010) .xlsx 42.3 Download