National Medium Secure CAMHS Database
Research type
Research Database
IRAS ID
344696
Contact name
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Contact email
Research summary
National Database for Medium Secure Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0145
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion
Data collection arrangements
There are five in-patient psychiatric medium secure provisions for adolescents in the United Kingdom. The five services propose to serve as Data Collection Centres and collate their individual data into a centralised Research Database.
The research database will consist of de-identified, routinely gathered data from existing Electronic Patient Records (EPRs). Information extracted from the EPRs will be loaded onto a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and stored on a secure trust computer. Data will be pseudonymised at the point of extraction, with each participant being assigned a unique participant ID, thereby safeguarding patient confidentiality. Only the data collectors at each site will have access to the ‘code breaker’ for the encryption, allowing for the electronic files that are sent forward to the central Database to be anonymised.
The Research Database will only hold de-identified patient data and there will be no identifiable information used in research reports or any publication.
Any identifiable paper forms generated (e.g. consent forms) will be kept in a locked drawer on a medium-secure premises. The medium secure unit is swipe card access only into admin areas, these will be stored in this secure manner until they are able to be disposed of.
Research programme
No database of this kind exists within this field for adolescents within mental health services and to our knowledge no research projects have explored the outcomes within Medium Secure CAMHS services. The database will act as a source of collated variables from admission, through the duration as an inpatient, to their outcomes at discharge and at follow-up. The purpose of this Research Database is to understand the characteristics of those within medium secure CAMHS services, the effectiveness of the services provided and the associated patient outcomes. Having an established research database that can be continuously added to provides a larger sample size that is representative of the service population. This will also lend itself to longitudinal studies and will allow for more meaningful data analysis to be conducted. By using data already collected during standard care this will benefit participants by allowing their needs to be analysed without further intrusive data collection and with no additional clinical risk to them. We envisage this Database will allow services to effectively evaluate the outcomes of their service users and inform best practice, allowing researchers to guide service policy to support the most ‘in need’ service user.
Research database title
National Database for Medium Secure Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Establishment organisation
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Establishment organisation address
Ardenleigh Hospital
385 Kingsbury Road
Birmingham
B24 9SA