Health and Care Experience Survey 2023/24: Mental Health Analysis

Experience of Out of Hours Healthcare

The survey asked participants if they have contacted an NHS service when they wanted to see a healthcare professional but their General Practice was closed. It also asked what main treatment, assessment or advice they received. Of the people who used out of hours services in the previous 12 months, 4% reported this was for a mental health reason.

Figure 5: Percentage of people whose main treatment, assessment or advice from out of hours services was for a mental health reason

A comparison of the percentage of people who accessed out of hours care for a mental health reason compared to all other reasons in Scotland in 2023/24.

As well as asking about the reason for contacting out of hours care, respondents were also asked if they have any underlying health conditions, regardless of the specific reason for this particular contact.

People with a  mental health condition were more likely to contact out of hours services than those without a mental health condition, even if that contact was not specifically about a mental health problem.

29% of people with a mental health condition contacted out of hours care compared to 18% of those who do not have a mental health condition.

Figure 6: Percentage of people with an underlying mental health condition who accessed out of hours care in the last 12 months

A comparison of the percentage of people with an underlying mental health condition who accessed out of hours care compared to those who don’t have a mental health condition in Scotland in 2023/24.

Participants were asked whether they agreed with nine statements relating to their experience that describe principles of person-centred care, referring to the last time they received out of hours care.

We classify responses where the respondents agree or strongly agree with the statement as ‘positive’, where they neither agree nor disagree as ‘neutral’, and responses where they disagree or strongly disagree as ‘negative’.

People who contacted out of hours services for a mental health reason were generally less likely to rate their experience as positive.

Figure 7: How much people agree with the following statements about out of hours services

The percentage of people whose response was positive to each of these statements for those who received support for a mental health reason compared to those who received support for other reasons in Scotland in 2023/24.