Regional profiles of mental health service activity

Select a region on the map to begin viewing data about that region.

Data are available by Primary Health Network or by Statistical Area 3 regions.

Tips for finding a specific region

• You can zoom in on a particular region by using the map search bar
• Use the plus and minus buttons on the map to zoom in and zoom out as required.
• Selecting the home icon on the map will reset the map zoom level.

Adding a comparison region

Select the ‘comparison regions’ button to see a second map in the page.

You can then choose a second region from this map. Data from both regions will be displayed in the charts and tables.

Downloading data for selected regions

Select the ‘Download data tables’ button at the top of the data exploration tool.

Choose the Region type, State/Territory, and Region name of interest to display the data table. Data may be further filtered by Year and Topic.

The data table can then be exported as an Excel or CSV file by selecting the ‘Download data’ button.

The interactive visualisation shows the rate of mental health-related prescriptions dispensed, patients dispensed with mental health prescriptions, Medicare patients and services, presentations to emergency departments, admitted patient care hospitalisations and community service contacts per 10,000 population, Medicare benefit paid and fee charged per capita, and PBS benefit subsidised per capita by region, age group, each year between 2018–19 and 2023–24.

To download data, you can use your mouse or keyboard to navigate to the ‘View as table and download data’ button at the top of the data exploration tool and select a region of interest.

The regional profiles present information on admitted patient (those who undergo a hospital’s formal admission process) mental health-related hospitalisations from Australian public and private hospitals.

Data are sourced from the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD), a collation of data on admitted patient care in Australian hospitals defined by the Admitted Patient Care National Minimum Data Set (APC NMDS).

For more information, refer to the Admitted patients mental health-related care section of the Mental Health Online Report.

State and territory health authorities collect a core set of nationally comparable information on most public hospital emergency department (ED) presentations in their jurisdiction, which has been compiled annually into the National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD).

The regional profiles present information on Mental health-related Emergency Department (ED) presentations in public hospital EDs sourced from the NNAPEDCD.

For more information, refer to the State and territory emergency presentations section of the Mental Health Online Report.

Mental illness is often treated in specialised community and hospital-based outpatient psychiatric services, which are referred to as specialised community mental health care (CMHC) services in this report. The regional profiles present information on service contacts conducted in the presence of the patient, with a third party (such as a carer or family member) and/or other professionals or mental health workers.

Data are sourced from the National Community Mental Health Care Database (NCMHCD), which is compiled from data provided by state and territory health authorities as part of the Community Mental Health Care National Minimum Data Set (CMHC NMDS).

For more information, refer to the Community mental health care services section of the Mental Health Online Report.

Medicare-subsidised mental health-specific services are delivered by a range of practitioners across various settings as defined in the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). The regional profiles present information on services claimed under specified mental health-related MBS item numbers and delivered by general practitioners (GPs), psychiatrists and other medical practitioners, psychologists and other allied health professionals. The regional profiles also present information on patient undertook the Medicare mental health services and the benefit paid and fee charged per capita for services provided by GPs, Psychiatrists, and psychologists. 

Data are sourced from the Department of Health, Disability and Aging.

For more information, refer to the Medicare mental health services section of the Mental Health Online Report.

The regional profiles present information on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) prescriptions for mental health-related medications; both subsidised prescriptions and under co-payment prescriptions (that is, prescriptions that cost less than the threshold for subsidy under the PBS) as well as patients who were dispensed with mental health prescriptions and the relevant benefit subsidised per capita.

Data are sourced from the Department of Health, Disability and Aging.

For more information, refer to the Mental health-related prescriptions section of the Mental Health Online Report.

Federal Financial Relations (2022) National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement, Federal Financial Relations, Australian Government, accessed 16 June 2025.