National Prisoner Health Data Collection

The National Prisoner Health Data Collection (NPHDC) is held by the AIHW. The collection has been held in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2022. The

2022 collection was originally planned for 2021 but delayed due to COVID-19. The scope includes various data items concerning prison entrants and prison dischargees over a two-week period, clinic attendances, medications administered and some general information about prisons and their operations.

The next collection is planned to occur in August 2025, with collections to repeat every 3 years thereafter (i.e., 2028, 2031 and so on). Data collected in 2025 is scheduled for release in 2026. Survey data is collected from people entering prison via an Entrants survey, and from people leaving prison via a Dischargees survey, conducted over 2-week periods across Australian prisons. The surveys collect data relating to health conditions, behaviours and health service use as people enter custody and leave custody. Demographic information relating to sex, gender, Indigenous status and age are also collected. In 2025, the NPHDC will collect unit record administrative data from jurisdictional prison and clinic systems for up to five files. The files contain data on client demographics, custody arrangements, health services, medications, and health conditions of people in Australian prisons. This builds on administrative data collected in the 2022 collection and is part of a longer-term development plan to transition the NPHDC to a fulsome administrative data collection that can supplement the survey data. An administrative data collection will help ensure the sustainability of the NPHDC by creating a more robust, higher quality data collection. The survey and administrative data will not be linked.