Audit resources

This page provides resources to support participation in NCAP. These materials are designed for anyone involved in NCAP audits across England and Wales.

Changes to data collection methodology

From 2025, NCAP has moved to a new methodology for collecting EIP audit data.

Instead of collecting data directly from local teams, NCAP now uses data extracted from the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) for English teams. Welsh teams submit their data through the tool created by the Quality, Safety and Improvement Division (QS&I) within NHS Wales. This change has been made to reduce audit burden for services.

We recognise that data quality may not yet be optimal, and we expect this to improve over time. The NCAP team will support services by:

  • Providing resources to help improve data quality
  • Offering quality improvement (QI) support through the NCAP QI programme

Please use the dropdown list below for more specific information for your country.

Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) England Routine Audit 

This section contains information and resources for the EIP routine audit in England. 

Other supporting resources

Submitting data to the MHSDS

Teams should focus on regularly submitting accurate data to the MHSDS, as this is the data source used for the NCAP audit.

  • Guidance on how to submit data is available on the MHSDS webpage
  • The NCAP team is not directly involved in the data submission process
  • NCAP can advise on how data appear after extraction from the MHSDS for audit purposes, but cannot resolve submission issues

For support with submissions, providers are advised to contact the NHS England Information Standards service desk.

MHSDS data extraction date Reporting period NCAP dashboard publication
July 20251 April 2022 - 31 March 2025December 2025
September 20251 September 2022 - 31 August 2025February 2026
December 20251 December 2022 - 31 November 2025February 2026
March 20261 March 2023 - 28 February 2026TBC
June 20261 June 2023 - 31 May 2026TBC
September 20261 September 2023 - 31 August 2026TBC

NCAP was commissioned a contract variation to run a second Bespoke Audit in 2024. The NCAP EIP Bespoke Data Audit 2024 will function very similarly to the 2023 audit and will again focus on only those data items related to the scoring matrix. The purpose of this is to continue to demonstrate performance against the NHS Long Term Plan whilst the routine data becomes of good enough quality.

England

Wales and Ireland

Online audit platform guidance

The National Clinical Audit of Psychosis (NCAP) was commissioned to conduct an audit which collects a reduced bespoke dataset in 2023. The audit will predominantly collect data that focuses on the questions used to calculate the scores associated with the scoring matrix to ensure that NHS England and Improvement can continue to evidence performance against the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) whilst the 2024 EIP audit using routine data is in development.

England

Ireland and Wales

The National Audit of Schizophrenia (NAS) ran for two rounds of audit, 2011-2012 and 2013-14. For further information, please head to the NAS website page.

The Lester Positive Cardiometabolic Health Resource provides practitioners with a simple assessment and intervention framework to protect the cardiovascular and metabolic health of patients with severe mental illness receiving antipsychotic medication.

Adapted for UK use from an original Australian resource, in a process led by the late Professor Helen Lester, this resource has been produced through collaboration between the Royal Colleges of General Practitioners and of Psychiatrists, supported by NCAP.

The Lester resource was further updated in 2023 with NHS England to reflect important changes to the NICE guidance on assessing and managing cardiovascular risk (NICE CG181).

Download the Positive Cardiometabolic Health Resource

Improving the physical health of people with serious mental illness – a practical toolkit

Between 2014 and 2016, NHS England worked with staff and patients in four mental health trusts to improve cardiovascular (CVD) health outcomes and reduce premature mortality in people with serious mental illness. CVD is the biggest cause of premature death in this patient group.

This toolkit is designed to help other mental health trusts implement the Lester tool, using a combination of detailed case studies, short examples and supporting documents provided by each pilot site.

The toolkit is based on an earlier version of the Lester tool. However, much of it is transferable to the 2023 update.

Download the toolkit

Data tables for all NCAP audits - Casenote audit data by participating Trusts/Health Boards.

Disclaimer

These tools and documents were specifically developed for use within the National Clinical Audit of Psychosis (NCAP). These tools have been made publicly available and should you choose to download them for uses outside of the NCAP, you are free to do so, but are hereby agreeing to enter into a royalty free, non-exclusive, licence agreement with Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership under the following terms and conditions:

All information, software, products and related graphics contained in the audit tool or data collection form are provided for non-commercial purposes "as is" without warranty, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.

In no event shall HQIP be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages for loss of profits, revenue, data or use incurred by you or any third party, whether in action in contract, tort, or otherwise, arising from NCAPOP Provider technical manual v4 - 12 September 2025 Contents 71 your access to, or use of, the audit tool or form.

HQIP make no representations about the suitability, reliability, or timeliness, and accuracy of the information, software, products, and related graphics contained in the audit tool or forms. HQIP reserves the right to make improvements, changes, or updates to forms or tools at any time without notice.