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Publications

Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2010–11: state and territory findings

This report provides information on treatment episodes provided by publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment services that are available to people seeking treatment for their own drug use and people seeking assistance for someone else's drug use.

About 700 agencies provide treatment for alcohol and other drug issues in Australia, and three-quarters of these agencies are in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Most of the closed episodes provided in 2010 –11 were for clients receiving treatment for their own drug use, and alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in most states and territories. Counselling was the most common main treatment type in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, and was the second most common main treatment in the remaining state and territories.

Published: 21 March 2013.

Dementia care in hospitals: costs and strategies

This is the first report of 10 national core maternity indicators for monitoring the quality of maternity care in Australia. National rates have decreased for smoking in pregnancy, episiotomy among women having their first baby and giving birth vaginally, and the proportion of babies born weighing less than 2,750 grams at or after 40 weeks. Rates have increased for some indicators, including induction of labour, caesarean section and instrumental vaginal birth.

Published: 7 March 2013.

Cancer screening programs in Australia

This web update contains the release of the latest national participation data for Australia's breast cancer and cervical screening programs for 2010 and 2011. BreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer by screening to detect cases of unsuspected breast cancer in women, enabling intervention at an early stage. Finding breast cancer early often means that the cancer is small, which is associated with increased treatment options and improved survival. The web update includes the latest participation data for the National Cervical Screening Program, which aims to reduce illness and death resulting from cervical cancer in Australia.

The web update includes information on the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program the program began providing free bowel screening to people turning 55 and 65 years. In July 2008 this was extended to all Australians turning 50, 55 and 65 years of age. The web update can be found at <http://www.aihw.gov.au/cancer/ screening/>

Published: 13 March 2013.

National core maternity indicators

Published: 7 March 2013.

Healthy for life: results for July 2007–June 2011

This is the first publicly-released Healthy for life report since data collection and reporting began in 2007. Healthy for Life is an Australian Government program, announced in the 2005–06 Budget, announced in the 2005–06 Budget, which provides funds to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers, babies and children.

The average birthweight of babies at Healthy for Life services increased from 3,015 to 3,131 grams between the reporting periods ending in June 2008 and June 2011. Over the same period, the proportion of clients who had health assessments increased from 11.7% to 15.2% for those aged 15–54 and from 14.7% to 20.7% for those aged 55 and over. For clients aged 0–14, the proportion who had health assessments decreased slightly from 15.9% to 13.8%.

Published: 1 March 2013.

Australian hospital statistics: National emergency access and elective surgery targets 2012

This report presents 2012 data for performance indicators related to emergency department lengths of stay of 4 hours or less and lengths of time spent waiting for elective surgery, specified in the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Public Hospital Services. These data are provided to the COAG Reform Council for them to determine state and territory performance against the agreed targets.

Published: 28 February 2013.

Development of a prototype Australian mental health intervention classification: a working paper

The prototype Mental Health Intervention Classification (MHIC) has been developed so that information on mental health interventions can be collected using a standard classification scheme. Adoption of the prototype will enable nationally comparable and consistent reporting of trends, patterns and best practice in the provision of mental health services.

Published: 19 February 2013.

A snapshot of juvenile arthritis

This publication brings together the latest information on juvenile arthritis, a relatively uncommon condition affecting less than 1% of Australian children. Available data show that Australian Government subsidies for new classes of treatment medications have continually increased since their introduction in 2002–03 and hospitalisation rates for girls with juvenile arthritis rose in the 10 years to 2009–10. The reasons for the latter are not yet clear.

Published: 25 January 2013.

Dental workforce 2011

The number of dental practitioners registered in Australia in 2011 was 18,803, of whom 14,179 were dentists. The supply of employed dentists increased from 50.9 to 56.1 full-time equivalent practitioners per 100,000 population between 2006 and 2011, which reflected a 22.4% increase in dentists. The gender balance continued to shift, with women making up 35.6% of dentists in 2011 compared with 29.0% in 2006. The average hours worked each week by dentists decreased slightly from 38.5 to 37.4.

Published: 24 January 2013.

Medical workforce 2011

The supply of employed medical practitioners in Australia increased from 344.6 to 381.4 full-time equivalent practitioners per 100,000 population between 2007 and 2011, which reflected a 10.7% rise in practitioner numbers. The gender balance continued to shift, with women making up 37.6% of practitioners in 2011 compared with 34% in 2007. Specialistsin- training in the public sector worked the most average hours per week (47.6) while general practitioners in the public sector worked the least (20.5).

Published: 23 January 2013.