A History of Government Mental Health Statistics since the Foundation of the NHS

This project will produce the first history of the creation, collection, interpretation and use of government mental health statistics in England and Wales. This will look at data from the foundation of the NHS in 1948 to the early twenty-first century.

The project gives particular attention to the 1950s Royal Commission and its role in promoting statistical analysis and extending to the limits of the 20-year rule for accession of records. This took place ahead of the legislative changes as a result of the 2007 Mental Health Act.

The research will investigate how government sought to measure mental illness during a period marked by major changes in mental health policy. This includes deinstitutionalisation, the expansion of community care, changing diagnostic frameworks, and growing public and political concern with mental wellbeing.

The project will be based primarily on records held by The National Archives, including MH, JA, RG, HO and FD records. The student will examine how statistics were collected, classified, analysed and deployed in policymaking, as well as the practical challenges involved in gathering data across local and national systems.

Methodologically, the project will combine archival research with approaches drawn from the history of medicine, social history, history of technology, and the history of statistics. Utilising the Hospital Records Database, a small number of local case studies will be used to explore how data collection operated in practice and how information was transmitted to central government.

For more information about this project, please get in touch with The National Archives’ project team: Laura Robson-Mainwaring and Jessamy Carlson

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Submit your Expression of Interest here

Please submit your expression of interest using this form. The closing date for receiving EOIs is 17.00 on Friday 9th October 2026.