Mental health inpatient discharge
A care record standard for information sharing so professionals can provide continuity of care when an adult is discharged from mental health services.
Contents
- Documentation
About this standard
- Publisher
- NHS England
- Status
- Active
Show definitions of statuses
Active. Active standards are stable, maintained and have been approved, assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.
Deprecated Deprecated standards are available for use and are maintained, but are being phased out, so new functionality will not be added.
Retired standards Retired standards are not being maintained or supported and should not be used.
- Standard type
- Information standards
Show definitions of standard types
Collections. A Collection is a systematic gathering of a specified selection of data or information for a particular stated purpose from existing records held within health and care systems and electronic devices.
Extractions. An extraction is a type of collection that is pulled from an operational system by the data controller and transmitted to the receiver without additional processing or transcription by the sender.
Information standards. Information standards are agreed ways of doing something, written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions.
Technical Standards and specifications. Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.
- Contact point
england.standards.assurance@nhs.net
Using this standard
The Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) were commissioned by NHS England to develop the following set of resources. These have been migrated into the NHS Standards Directory and will be managed by NHS England from 01 January 2026.
- Associated medias
- Is part of
- Transfer of Care InitiativeThe Transfer of Care initiative has been mandated by the NHS Standard Contract. It includes a group of related standards covering inpatient, emergency care, mental health and outpatient settings.
- Transfer of Care Initiative
Topics and care settings
- Topic
- Care records
- Continuity of care
- Demographics
- Information governance
- Key care information
- Patient communication
- Pharmacy, Medicines and Prescribing
- Referrals
- Tests and diagnostics
- Care setting
- Community health
- Hospital
- Mental health
- Social care
Dependencies and related standards
- Dependencies
This standard needs to be reviewed and implemented alongside:
- SNOMED CT
- Health Level 7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Health Level 7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR) is a standard for health care data exchange, published by HL7®.
- Electronic systems both sending and receiving
- Related standards
This standard relates to the group of standards by the PRSB known as the transfer of care standards.
Review Information
- Contributor
- Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB)
Legal basis
- Licence information
NHS England permits the copying and re-use of Information Standards, in whole or in part, for commercial and non-commercial purposes but, to protect the integrity of the Information Standards, you are not permitted to adapt, amend or decompile the Information Standards for any purpose without our prior consent.
- Licence
Crown Copyright https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/terms-and-conditions
More information
People with mental health problems require comprehensive, integrated physical and mental health care, both in hospital and the community. The Mental Health Inpatient Discharge Summary Standard ensures relevant information is shared among healthcare professionals, facilitating continuity of care when an adult is discharged from inpatient mental health services.
About this standardThe Mental Health Inpatient Discharge Summary Standard is designed to improve communication between secondary care providers and GPs. It ensures that timely and relevant information about a person’s care and treatment is accessible to GPs, community and acute mental health care teams, and social care professionals. This standard includes details on patient history, social context, medications, hospital admission details, and current and previous diagnoses. By recognising the unique nature of mental illness compared to physical illness, the standard uses inclusive and sympathetic language in its headings and clinical descriptions. This project supports NHS England’s interoperability efforts.
Benefits:- Enhances professional communication and continuity of care.
- Ensures timely access to relevant patient information.
- Supports integrated care across different healthcare settings.
- Uses inclusive language tailored to mental health care.
- Adult discharge from inpatient mental health services
- Discharge from non-mental health inpatient stay – refer to the eDischarge Summary Standard
- Discharge from emergency care – refer to the Emergency Care Discharge Standard
- Transfer between hospitals – although much of the content may be appropriate
- Discharge from outpatient treatment or other community based community-based period of treatment – refer to Outpatient letter standard
The Mental Health Inpatient Discharge Summary Standard operates by ensuring that all relevant information is recorded and shared in a structured and coded format. This facilitates seamless communication and continuity of care across different healthcare settings.
The hospital electronic patient record (EPR) is expected to be able to generate much of the discharge summary from information recorded in the record such as diagnoses, procedures, medications, investigation results, assessments, patient demographics and other administrative information, with the person completing the record adding other information such as the clinical summary, plan and requested actions.
For full implementation the discharge information should be sent as electronic message using the NHS standard for messaging, HL7 FHIR, detailed here: Transfer of Care message specifications – NHS England
Page last updated: 18 December 2025