Disability services in first national collection

The first national data on government and non-government disability support services and clients under the Commonwealth/State Disability Agreement (CSDA) were released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare today.

The report, Disability Support Services Provided under the Commonwealth/State Disability Agreement: First National Data 1995, presents data collected using the 1995 CSDA Minimum Data Set (MDS) from Commonwealth, State and Territory CSDA services (Western Australian data for 1995 were not able to be included).

4,219 CSDA services responded to the Minimum Data Set collection, a response rate of 93%, including:

  • 2,752 (66%) from non-government funded services and 1,453 (34%) from government funded services;
  • 1,763 of all services offered accommodation services, 859 community support services, 483 community access services, 308 respite services, and 772 offered employment services.

Richard Madden, Director of the Institute, stated that 'this report is a timely overview of client characteristics and services for the current CSDA renegotiation'.

Data were collected from 63,530 consumer forms, representing people receiving services on the snapshot day (excluding those in Western Australia). Of service consumers in 1995:

  • 59% were male;
  • 67.7% were reported to have intellectual disability as the primary disability type;
  • over 75% of consumers needed support in activities of daily living and almost as many needed social and emotional support;
  • service recipients of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin were more likely to be represented in State- or Territory-funded services than in the general population-this is consistent with findings from other data of higher rates of disability among people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.
  • data on other disabilities, country of birth, language, income source and living arrangements are also included.

The report contains information on the development of the collection, the questions and definitions used to gather the data, and recommendations for future collections.

 

Previous article Next article