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The collation of national data on service provision and outcomes for people with disabilities is both important and challenging. In particular, there is a need for better quality data from administrative systems - data that can be compared across time, across state and territories and across various health and welfare programs. There is a further requirement - namely that it is possible to compare the statistics produced from administrative sources with those from surveys and censuses, so that we can estimate the need for services and access to services by particular population groups.
National information agreements
To facilitate the development of data for reporting purposes, the relevant policy agencies of the Commonwealth, states and territories and the two statistical agencies (the ABS and the AIHW) have signed four national information agreements for the fields of health, community services, housing and Indigenous housing.
These agreements are high level agreements, signed by agency heads. They provide a structure and consultative mechanism through which governments can work cooperatively, with a national perspective, to improve, maintain and share national health, community services and housing information.
The Australian data dictionaries
Three of the main products resulting from the national information agreements are the National Community Services Data Dictionary (Version 3, 2003a; Version 2, AIHW 2000), the National Health Data Dictionary (Version 12, AIHW 2003b), and the National Housing Assistance Data Dictionary (Version 2, AIHW 2003c). These data dictionaries are compiled by the respective information management groups established under the information agreements and are published by the AIHW. The dictionaries are major pieces of Australian national information infrastructure. They contain national information models, and associated data elements, specified in accordance with International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) standards. The dictionaries provide a menu of standard data elements, from which national minimum data sets can be specified, for the major national collections in the fields of health, community services, housing and Indigenous housing. Minimum data sets established under the community services, health and housing agreements are obligatory for all to report on, and all signatories are obliged to use the relevant national data dictionaries. The dictionaries are also intended to assist a much broader audience, e.g. service providers developing their own information systems, and researchers.
The data dictionaries provide information necessary to understand the meaning of the data elements and ensure consistency in application of the definitions and classifications. The information provided in the dictionary template includes:
definition (what it is that you wish to know)
context (who wants to know and why)
data domain (the range of possible answers)
guide for use (which answers to choose)
collection method (when and how to obtain the information)
related data (other data elements of relevance)
comments (other relevant information to understand the data item).
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