Technical notes

General notes:

  1. Data presented in dashboards is from all publicly funded AOD treatment services (which includes PHN-commissioned services) that have reported to the AODTS NMDS.
  2. Primary Health Networks (PHNs) were established on 1 July 2015. In these dashboards, data collected since 2013–14 are presented to show the trends in each PHN prior to the establishment of the boundaries.
  3. Alcohol and other drug treatment agencies funded by their PHN under the Australian Government Department of Health's Drug and Alcohol Program submitted data to the AODTS NMDS for the first time in 2016–17.

Agencies dashboard:

  1. The PHN of the agency was assigned based on the Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) of the treatment agency using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) SA2 2011 to Primary Health Network 2015 concordance file.
  2. As SA2 2011 boundaries may not correspond to PHN 2015 boundaries, some agencies may be captured in a neighbouring PHN including those in a neighbouring jurisdiction.

Main treatment type dashboards:

  1. The PHN of the closed treatment episode was assigned based on the reported postcode of the client using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) Postal Area 2013 to Primary Health Network 2015 concordance file. Clients with an invalid postcode were assigned to the PHN group 'PHN Unallocated' and removed from the analysis. In 2017–18, 4,922 episodes were assigned to 'PHN Unallocated' due to an invalid reported postcode.
  2. Disaggregations with a cell size of less than 5 have been nulled and presented as '<5'. Because of this, disaggregations might not sum to total or 100%.
  3. Due to the nuances of data collection systems in Western Australia and Victoria, caution should be used when comparing the reported number of episodes by main treatment type in these states’ PHNs to others. Western Australia's and Victoria's data collection systems do not collect an additional treatment type. Instead, a new treatment episode is opened for any additional treatment a client receives, and the additional treatment is recorded as the main treatment. This may inflate the reported number of episodes provides in the collection year.

Client demographics dashboard:

  1. Numbers are based on client records with a valid statistical linkage key (SLK) 581.
  2. Client numbers are not comparable to client data published in the AODTS in Australia 2017–18 report, as it contains clients that attend treatment in multiple PHNs in the collection year. The total client numbers presented at the PHN level are greater than what is presented at the state/territory level due to the finer geographic granularity of PHNs compared with the state/territory level.
  3. Disaggregations with a cell size of less than 5 have been nulled and presented as '<5'. Because of this, disaggregations might not sum to total or 100%.

Principal drug of concern dashboards:

  1. The PHN of the client was assigned based on the reported postcode of the client using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) Postal Area 2013 to Primary Health Network 2015 concordance file. Clients with an invalid postcode were assigned to the PHN group 'PHN Unallocated' and removed from the analysis. In 2017–18, 4,922 episodes were assigned to 'PHN Unallocated' due to an invalid reported postcode.
  2. Disaggregations with a cell size of less than 5 have been nulled and presented as '<5'. Because of this, disaggregations might not sum to total or 100%.

Jurisdiction-specific notes:

  1. South Australia reports a high proportion of treatment episodes where amphetamines are the principal drug of concern due to the SA Police Drug Diversion Initiative (PDDI). In addition, adult cannabis offences are not included in the PDDI due to the SA Cannabis Expiation Notice legislation.
  2. Victoria reported relatively high incidences of 'Other drugs – (miscellaneous)' due to service provider reporting practices and limitations with the current data system. This system will be replaced during 2018–19.
  3. In Queensland, the level of cannabis reported as the principal drug of concern is a result of the police and illicit drug court diversion programs operating in the state.