QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
Data on Patient Experience were collected as part of the 2011–12 Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS). The MPHS is a supplement to the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS) and is designed to collect annual statistics on a small number of self-contained topics. The scope of the LFS is restricted to people aged 15 years and over and excludes members of the permanent defence forces; certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments usually excluded from census and estimated resident populations; overseas residents in Australia; and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants). Refer to Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) for further information regarding the LFS. In addition, the 2011–12 MPHS excluded people living in Indigenous communities and people living in non-private dwellings such as hotels, university residences, students at boarding schools, patients in hospitals, inmates of prisons and residents of homes (e.g. retirement homes, homes for persons with disabilities).
In the Patient Experience component of the MPHS, respondents aged 15 years and over are asked questions about their experiences with health services in Australia. The type of information collected includes their experiences with general practitioners, dentists, medical specialists and hospitals, as well as their use of pathology and imaging tests. Information is collected from one person selected at random in each selected household.
TIMELINESS
The MPHS is collected annually with enumeration undertaken over the financial year period from July to June. The Patient Experience topic is collected annually via the MPHS, beginning in 2009. Generally, data are released approximately 5 months after the end of collection.
ACCURACY
The LFS, and consequently the MPHS, is primarily designed to provide estimates for the whole of Australia and, secondly, for each state and territory.
Two types of error are possible in an estimate based on a sample survey: non-sampling error and sampling error. Non-sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. Every effort is made to minimise reporting error by the careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers, and efficient data processing procedures. Non-sampling error also arises because information cannot be obtained from all persons selected in the survey.
Sampling error occurs because a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed. One measure of the likely difference resulting from not including all dwellings in the survey is given by the standard error (SE). There are about two chances in three a sample estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if all dwellings had been included in the survey, and about 19 chances in 20 the difference will be less than two SEs. Measures of the relative standard errors (RSE) of the estimates for this survey are included with this release.
Only estimates (numbers and proportions) with RSEs less than 25% are considered sufficiently reliable for most purposes. Estimates with RSEs between 25% to 50% have been included and are annotated to indicate they are subject to high sample variability and should be used with caution. In addition, estimates with RSEs greater than 50% have also been included and annotated to indicate they are considered too unreliable for general use.
COHERENCE
The ABS seeks to maximise consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to the survey. Sound survey practice, however, requires ongoing development to maintain and improve the integrity of the data. Changes to some of the questions being asked, mean that certain data items from each iteration of the Patient Experience Survey are not comparable year to year. For changes between iterations of the survey, please refer to paragraph 24 of the Explanatory Notes.
Due to differences in collection methods and question wording, health data collected in the Patient Experience Survey may not be comparable with data from other ABS health surveys, such as the National Health Survey or the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey.
INTERPRETABILITY
To aid in the interpretation of the data, detailed information on concepts, definitions, terminology and other technical aspects of the survey can be found in the relevant web pages included with this release.
ACCESSIBILITY
All tables and associated RSEs are available in Excel spreadsheets and can be accessed from the Downloads tab.
Additional tables may also be available on request. The Downloads tab also includes a document containing a complete list of the data items available. Note that detailed data can be subject to high RSEs and, in some cases, may result in data being confidentialised.
In addition to the data available in the Excel spreadsheets, other tables will be able to be produced using Survey TableBuilder (STB), an online tool for creating tables and graphs. STB for the Patient Experience Survey is expected to be available around nine months after the end of data collection.
For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service.
Quality Declaration 
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