Notes:
CONTACTS (NHS DIRECT MENTAL HEALTH) is an optional data element in the Mental Health Minimum Data Set collection record and should only be present if one or more Telephone Contact NHS Direct (Mental Health) within the Mental Health Care Spell has occurred during the REPORTING PERIOD. This refers to any contacts that are required to be shared between NHS Direct and a Mental Health NHS Trust according to local and nationally agreed protocols on information sharing.

It is the total number of such contacts within the REPORTING PERIOD. Each such contact is recorded by a Telephone Contact NHS Direct (Mental Health) and there may be more than one recorded during the course of a REPORTING PERIOD.

There is a Contact Date for each Telephone Contact NHS Direct (Mental Health) and the calculation is based upon those contacts which are required for reporting between NHS Direct and a Mental Health NHS Trust during the REPORTING PERIOD.

Telephone Contact NHS Direct (Mental Health) is a CARE CONTACT where the CARE CONTACT TYPE is National Code 35 'Telephone Contact NHS Direct (Mental Health)'.

Mental Health Care Spell is an ACTIVITY GROUP where the ACTIVITY GROUP TYPE is National Code 23 'Mental Health Care Spell'.

Contact Date is the same as attribute ACTIVITY DATE of ACTIVITY DATE TIME where the ACTIVITY DATE TIME TYPE is National Code 39 'Contact Date'.

This data element is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
plural	CONTACTS (NHS DIRECT MENTAL HEALTH)