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AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE (AIHW)

NAME OF COLLECTION

Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS–NMDS)


OVERVIEW

The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS–NMDS) is a nationally agreed set of common data items collected by all in-scope service providers, collated by relevant health authorities and compiled into a national data set by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The AODTS–NMDS is an annual collection that commenced on 1 July 2000. The collection was implemented to monitor and evaluate key objectives of the National Drug Strategy and assist in the planning, management and quality improvement of alcohol and other drug treatment services. In general, it aims to provide ongoing information on the demographics of clients who use these services, the treatment they receive, and administrative information about the agencies that provide alcohol and other drug treatment.

The Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs AODTS–NMDS Working Group is responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the national collection. The Working Group has representatives from the Australian Government, each state and territory government, the AIHW, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. The AIHW is the data manager and custodian for the national data set and performs a coordinating role as national secretariat to the collection.


SCOPE

The agencies, treatment activities and clients that are included in the AODTS–NMDS collection are as follows:

• all publicly funded (at state, territory and/or Australian Government level) government and non-government agencies that provide one or more specialist alcohol and/or other drug treatment service
• all clients (aged 10 years and over) who had completed one or more treatment episodes at an alcohol and other drug treatment service that was in scope during the fiscal year (e.g. period 1 July to 30 June)

• agencies whose sole activity is to prescribe and/or dose for opioid pharmacotherapy treatment
• clients who are on an opioid pharmacotherapy program and who are not receiving any other form of treatment that falls within the scope of the AODTS–NMDS
• agencies for which the main function is to provide accommodation or overnight stays, such as halfway houses and sobering-up shelters
• agencies for which the main function is to provide services concerned with health promotion (for example, needle and syringe exchange programs)
• treatment services based in prisons or other correctional institutions and clients receiving treatment from these services
• clients receiving services that are funded solely by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) as Indigenous Substance Use Services, Aboriginal primary health care services, Aboriginal medical services and community controlled health services
• people who seek advice or information but who are not formally assessed and/or accepted for treatment
• private treatment agencies that do not receive public funding
• clients aged under 10 years, irrespective of whether they are provided with services or received services from agencies included in the collection
• admitted patients in acute care or psychiatric hospitals

• Establishment identifier
• Establishment type
• Geographic location of establishment

• Client type (whether seeking treatment for own or other’s drug issue)
• Country of birth
• Date of birth
• Date of cessation of treatment episode for alcohol and other drugs
• Date of commencement of treatment episode for alcohol and other drugs
• Indigenous status
• Injecting drug use status
• Main treatment type for alcohol and other drugs
• Method of use for principal drug of concern
• Other drugs of concern
• Other treatment type for alcohol and other drugs
• Person identifier
• Preferred language
• Principal drug of concern
• Reason for cessation of treatment episode for alcohol and other drugs
• Sex
• Source of referral to alcohol and other drug treatment service
• Treatment delivery setting for alcohol and other drugs