Alcohol and other drug treatment services

Alcohol and other drug treatment in Australia

The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS-NMDS) was implemented to assist in monitoring and evaluating key objectives of the National Drug Strategic Framework and will continue to provide an important source of information for monitoring the Australian Government's National Drug Strategy. In general, the collection 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. This information assists in the planning, management and quality improvement of alcohol and other drug treatment services.

The AODTS-NMDS is a nationally agreed set of common data items collected by government-funded service providers for clients registered for alcohol and other drug treatment. This national collection is a subset of the information on alcohol and other drug treatment services that is routinely collected by States and Territories to monitor treatment services within their jurisdiction.

For further information on the AODTS-NMDS collection generally, go to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Publications List.

 

The 'Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (IGCD AODTS-NMDS) Working Group' is responsible for the AODTS-NMDS.

AODTS-NMDS Specifications 2008-09

The AODTS-NMDS specifications 2008-09: data dictionary, collection guidelines and validation processes.

These guidelines have been prepared as a reference for those involved in collecting and supplying the data for the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS-NMDS). It should be particularly useful to staff in Australian Government, state and territory departments, and alcohol and other drug treatment agency staff directly involved in the collection and reporting of the data set. Treatment agency staff looking for information to assist them in providing AODTS-NMDS data to third parties will find details about each item, such as 'principle drug of concern', in Chapter 4.

As data reporting practices vary across jurisdictions, the data items included in this document are specific to the national AODTS-NMDS and are not necessarily reflective of all data items collected by the states and territories.

Information regarding AIHW and collection privacy principles and data access can also be found in this document.

Findings from the AODTS-NMDS 2006-07

The 2006-07 AODTS-NMDS collection's data count is based on 'closed treatment episodes'. A closed treatment episode refers to a period of contact, with defined dates of commencement and cessation, between a client and a treatment agency.

On interpreting the data, the following should be considered:

• Exclusions to the scope of the NMDS include halfway houses, sobering-up shelters and correctional institutions;
• The AODTS-NMDS collection also excludes agencies whose sole purpose is to prescribe and/or dose for methadone of other opioid pharmacotherapies. Therefore, the collection excludes many clients receiving treatment for heroin;
• Queensland supplied data from Queensland government AODTS agencies and from police diversion processes (all with cannabis as the principal drug of concern) but not from other non-government-funded agencies; and
• The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients may be under-counted as the majority of Australian government-funded Indigenous substance use services and Aboriginal primary health care services that provide treatment for alcohol and other drug problems do not report as part of the AODTS-NMDS collection.

Highlights from 2006-07 AODTS-NMDS data

• In 2006-07, 633 government-funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies delivered 147,325 'closed treatment episodes'. This represents a reduction in the total number of agencies (31) and episodes (4,037) when compared with 2005-06. A number of systems issues occurred in NSW which contributed to this decline.
• 95% (140,475 episodes) involved clients seeking treatment for their own alcohol or other drug use, with the remaining 5% involving people seeking support or assistance in relation to someone else's alcohol or other drug use.
• Most treatment episodes were provided to male clients (66%). This trend has been continuing since the start of the collection in  2001-02.
• Nationally for clients seeking treatment for their own drug use, overall alcohol was the most common principle drug of concern (42%), up from 39% in 2005-06. Alcohol was again followed by cannabis (23%) and opioids (14%, with heroin accounting for 11%)
• For episodes where clients aged 10-19 years sought treatment for their own drug use, cannabis was the most common principle drug of concern nominated (47% of episodes), followed by alcohol at 29%. Alcohol was the focus of more treatment episodes for older age groups���42% for those aged 30-39 years; increasing to 84% of treatment episodes for people aged 60 years and over.
• Nationally, counselling was the most common form of main treatment provided (39% of treatment episodes), followed by withdrawal management (17%) and assessment only (15%).
• Additional treatment types are not reported as consistently as additional drugs of concern. There were a total of 17,279 instances of additional or 'other' treatments reported in 2006-07. The majority of these were counselling (53%), which was provided in addition to the main treatment type.

For more information on the 2005-06 AODTS-NMDS collection view the following publications:

• Report: Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia 2006-07: Report on the National Minimum Data Set
• Bulletin: Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia 2006-07: Findings from the National Minimum Data Set
• Briefings: Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services State/Territory Data Briefings 2006-07 
• Guidelines for the 2006-07 data collection period: AODTS-NMDS specifications 2006-07: data dictionary, collection guidelines and validation processes