Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services–National Minimum Dataset 2010–11 Report - Data quality statement
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Data Quality Statement
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Jurisdiction, Policy, administrative and data quality features, New South Wales, New South Wales Health collects data from all Australian Government/state government-funded agencies as part of requirements stipulated in a signed service agreement at the commencement/renewal of each funding agreement. Data are provided monthly by agencies to their respective Local Health Districts (LHD).There are a number of data collection systems in use and development. The New South Wales Minimum Data Set is collected by these systems from which the collection of the AODTS–NMDS is provided. NSW is developing a State Baseline Build related to D&A which will roll out to NSW through the CHIME and Cerner systems over the next few years. The majority of NGO data is collected via the NADA online system. NADA (Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies) is the peak organisation for the non-government drug and alcohol sector in NSW., The total number of agencies and episodes for New South Wales was under-reported because of system issues for the reporting period of 2008–09. This should be kept in mind when analysing time series data. The number of agencies submitted by New South Wales in 2010–11 was still lower than would be expected (8 agencies less than was recorded in 2007–08). This underreporting should be kept in mind when interpreting NSW agency and episode data. Comparisons over time with NSW data should also be made with caution., The proportion of episodes for Amphetamine use will be under-reported because other sources indicate a relatively high incidence of methamphetamine clients in the agencies affected by under-reporting because of system issues., Victoria, The Victorian Drug Treatment Service Program provides a range of services to cover the needs of clients experiencing substance abuse issues. The Victorian Government purchases these drug treatment services from independent agencies (non-government organisations) on behalf of the community, and has developed the concept of an ‘episode of care’ as the fundamental unit for service funding. An episode of care is a particular course of treatment in which the client achieves at least one significant treatment goal under the care of an alcohol and other drug worker., The episode of care is a measure of successful client outcomes. It aims to develop performance measurement beyond activities, throughputs and outputs, to measure what the client gets out of treatment. Agencies funded to provide drug treatment services in Victoria have service provision targets, which are defined in terms of number of episodes of care to be provided by service type and by target group (for example, youth or adult). As a requirement of their funding agreement with the Victorian Department of Health, agencies are required to submit data on a quarterly basis detailing their provision of drug treatment services and achievement of episodes of care. A subset of this data is contributed to the AODTS–NMDS annually., The majority of Victorian alcohol and other drug service providers continue to use the SWITCH or FullADIS information systems to report quarterly activity. However, hospitals and community health centres have since 2007–08 used the HealthSMART client management systems to report on alcohol and other drug treatment activity., In 2010–11, as in previous years, Victoria did not differentiate between main and other treatment types. As such, Victoria is not directly comparable with other jurisdictions because every treatment type provided is reported as a separate episode., Victoria only provides information about non-government agencies that receive public funding., In Victoria, assessment only episodes include brokerage services wherein clients with drug conditions who have received sentences are assessed, a treatment plan developed, and the necessary treatment purchased by from community-based alcohol and other drug treatment agencies. The very nature of these types of episodes results in durations that may exceed 90 days., Queensland, Queensland Health collects data from all Queensland Government alcohol and other drug treatment service providers and from all Queensland Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative—Police and Court Diversion clients. The Australian Government currently collects data from the Australian Government–funded agencies operating in Queensland., Queensland Health has a state-wide web-based clinical information management system supporting the collection of AODTS–NMDS items for all Queensland Government alcohol and other drug treatment services. Queensland Health will shortly be the sole data custodian of all alcohol and other drug treatment services in Queensland., In 2007, Queensland Health funded the establishment of the Queensland Network of Alcohol and Drug Agencies (QNADA), the peak body for non-government organisations that provide alcohol and other drug treatment services. One of the key objectives for QNADA was the establishment of a database to collect information for the AODTS–NMDS. It is expected that this will enable a more comprehensive data set to be submitted to the AIHW in future., Care should be taken when interpreting principal drug of concern over time for Queensland, as Queensland did not provide data consistent with the AODTS–NMDS specifications in 2001–02., Approximately 8% of Queensland’s episodes have a missing principal drug of concern. This is due to data entry issues related to staff training and compliance. These episodes are coded as ‘all other drugs’ for the purpose of analysis through this report., The proportion of ‘not stated’ responses for injecting drug use and method of use in Queensland in 2010–11 was high (59% and 58%, respectively). This high ‘not stated’ rate was due to due to a one off anomaly with the introduction of a new collection database and data entry issues related to staff training and compliance. An ongoing strategy of reengagement with alcohol and other drug treatment services Queensland staff commenced in November 2011 to mitigate this low response rate for the 2011–12 and future collection periods. The AIHW is also working with Queensland to improve staff training and compliance for future collection periods., There are a number of episodes in Queensland where the main treatment type is ’police and court diversion’. This number will continue to increase in the 2011–12 period. For these episodes the main treatment type will be recorded in the NMDS as ’information and education only’ and the reason for cessation will be ‘ceased to participate at expiation’. All police and court diversion treatments are one service contact (date of commencement = date of cessation)., Although police and court diversion client treatment is administratively recorded for NMDS as ‘information and education only’, it should be noted that the actual treatment session for all police and court diversion clients consists of a 2-hour treatment session that includes extensive alcohol and drug assessment to determine dependence, assessment of risk-taking behaviours, provision of advice and information on reducing/ceasing drug use and harm minimisation, motivational intervention, provision of resources and referral., The high proportion of episodes with cannabis as a principal drug of concern (29%) is due to the inclusion of episodes from the Queensland police and court diversion program., Western Australia, Data are provided by both government and non-government sectors. Non-government services are contracted by the Drug and Alcohol Office (DAO) to provide alcohol and drug services. They have contractual obligations to incorporate the data elements of the AODTS–NMDS in their collections. They are also obliged to provide data in a regular and timely manner to DAO. These data are collated and checked by DAO before submission to the AIHW annually., Services in Western Australia are not directly comparable with other states, or previous years, because of the growth of integrated services that include government and non-government service providers., In Western Australia, a reform in the way non-residential treatment services are provided in the Perth metropolitan area has resulted in the co-location and integration of some government and non-government services. Time series data do not adequately illustrate these changes., Western Australia reviews the geographical demographics of their clients regularly throughout the year and adjusts the locations of their service delivery outlets accordingly to meet the demands of the population. Therefore, variation between remote and very remote locations exists between years., Clients are generally able to access the agencies from multiple sites within any one episode depending on the client’s need and the availability of appointments within the alcohol and other drug treatment service. Examples of where these situations occur are when clients:, - follow a specific worker from one service delivery outlet to another, - change workers during an episode and the workers are located at different service delivery outlets, - attend one service delivery outlet for the initial service contact (commencement of episode) due to availability of appointment times and move to a more convenient service delivery outlet during the episode, - Move between service delivery outlets to fit service contacts within clients’ other personal needs, South Australia, Data are provided by government (Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia—DASSA) and non-government alcohol and other drug treatment services., Non-government alcohol and other drug treatment services in South Australia are subject to service agreements with the South Australian Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. As part of these service agreements, non-government organisations are required to provide timely client data in accordance with the AODTS–NMDS guidelines. Data are forwarded to DASSA for collation and checking. DASSA then forwards cleaned data to the AIHW annually. DASSA does not collect information directly from those services funded by the NGOTGP. Data are provided directly to the DoHA., Care should be taken when interpreting principal drugs of concern over time for South Australia, as South Australia did not provide data consistent with the AODTS–NMDS specifications in 2001–02. South Australia was excluded from analysis of main treatment type in 2001–02., Tasmania, Data are provided by both government (Alcohol and Drug Services – ADS) and non-government organisations (NGOs)., NGOs funded by the Tasmanian Government provide AODTS NMDS and key performance indicator data under the provisions of a service agreement. AODTS NMDS data is submitted to ADS State Office on either a six-monthly or yearly basis. Data quality reports are fed back to the NGOs and training/information on data capture practices are provided as required., ADS utilises iPM patient administration system as its key business system. This state-wide system is in use across the three Tasmanian Health Organisations (THOs), which includes inpatient, residential, outpatient and community service settings. It has been modified in order to capture the AODTS NMDS data items. A range of online self-service reporting is used to monitor performance activity and data quality., Tasmania’s illicit drug diversion treatment data is managed and extracted from the Drug Offence Reporting System (DORS). This system resides with Tasmania Police. A high proportion of treatment episodes in Tasmania with the principal drug of cannabis can largely be attributed to the inclusion of this data., Tasmania resubmitted the 2009–10 data after the release of the 2009–10 annual report due to the retrospective identification of a data quality anomaly affecting only that financial year. Online materials such as data cubes and supplementary tables were updated to include this updated data submission. However, the 2009–10 annual report does not include updated Tasmanian data. All 2009–10 data included in the 2010–11 annual report has been updated to include correct Tasmanian data. As a result time series data are not directly comparable with the 2009–10 annual report., Training in culturally sensitive practice has been provided for service providers across the Tasmanian Alcohol and Other Drug service sector. Despite this, Tasmanian data reporting for Indigenous status still remains low., Australian Capital Territory, Australian Capital Territory alcohol and other drug treatment service providers supply the Health Directorate with their complete data collection for the NMDS by 31 August each financial year, as specified in their Service Funding Agreement. Since 1 July 2007 the treatment service providers have been encouraged to use a standardised reporting system developed by the Health Directorate to enhance uniformity and reliability of data., The observed Increase in Assessment Only episodes between 2009–10 and 2010–11 was related to one agency which increased assessment activity that resulted in increased numbers of clients being assessed as unsuitable or not attending treatment., The number of counselling treatment services in the Australian Capital Territory have decreased between 2009–10 and 2010–11. ACT noted two agencies that provide the majority of counselling treatment in the ACT both reported a reduced number of closed treatment episodes since 2009-10. One agency advised there were a number of variables that contributed the low number of occasions of service, such as significant staff shortages for the counselling team and a high number of vacancies for allotted counselling sessions., Northern Territory, Alcohol and other drug treatment services in the Northern Territory are provided by government and non-government agencies. The bulk of services provided through non-government agencies are funded via service-level agreements with the Northern Territory Department of Health. All funded agencies are required to provide the AODTS–NMDS data items to the department on a regular and timely basis as part of a larger data collection. Summary statistical reports are sent to all agencies every 6 months detailing client activity for the previous 12 months., Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), The DoHA funds a number of alcohol and other drug treatment services under the National Illicit Drug Strategy Non-Government Organisation Treatment Grants Program (NGOTGP). These agencies are required to collect data (according to the AODTS–NMDS specifications) to facilitate the monitoring of their activities and to provide quantitative information to the Australian Government on their activities. Data from these agencies are generally submitted to the relevant state/territory health authority, except for a number of agencies in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, which submit data annually to the DoHA., Reported numbers for each state and territory in the AODTS–NMDS annual report include services provided under the National Illicit Drug Strategy NGOTGP., To ensure consistency with previous years’ data, when collating the 2010–11 AODTS–NMDS information, where an organisation’s sub-agencies have been given more than one establishment identifier, those identifiers were used and so sub-agencies were counted as separate agencies. When an organisation’s subprojects have been given one establishment identifier, only this establishment identifier was used, and so counted as one agency., In 2010–11, the DoHA conducted a review of the processes used to collate and provide NGOTGP agencies. The review resulted in an additional 14 agencies submitting data to the 2010–11 collection from what was observed in 2009–10. The number of NGOTGP episodes also increased between 2009–10 (4,136 episodes) and 2010–11 (7,625 episodes).
Summary of key data quality issues of the AODTS–NMDS 2010–11
Data are reported by each state and territory regardless of funding type. Because all services are publicly funded, they receive at least some of their funding through a state, territory or Australian government program. The actual funding program cannot be differentiated, however services are categorised according to their sector, with government funded and operated services reported as public services and those operated by non-gover...
Superseded: AIHW Data Quality Statements
