Community mental health care services - National data

Last updated: 07 Oct 2025

9.8 million service contacts

were provided to 489,000 consumers

People aged 12–17

had the highest contact rate of any age group (676 per 1,000 population), largely driven by females (968)

Schizophrenia

was the most commonly recorded specified principal diagnosis (16% of contacts)

A separate section focusing on state and territory data can be found on the following page - State and territory community mental health care services.

Related indicator set: Key Performance Indicators for Australian Public Mental Health Services - Community mental health care services.

Summary

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. Around 9.8 million service contacts were provided by these services to nearly 489,000 consumers in 2023–24 at an average of about 20 contacts per consumer. The rate of service contacts peaked at 400 (per 1,000 population) during the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2014–15 and 2023–24, the rate of contacts has overall decreased from 373 to 365.

A core set of information for the Community Mental Health Care National Minimum Data Set (CMHC NMDS) is compiled annually into the National Community Mental Health Care Database (NCMHCD). Data from the NCMHCD are used to describe the care provided by these services. More information about the NCMHCD is available below in the data source section.

For information on involuntary mental health legal status in community mental health care refer to the Involuntary treatment in mental health care section.

Spotlight data

Community mental health care services in Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24

Who received services?

In 2023–24, just over half (52%) of CMHC patients were female and, overall, females (372 contacts per 1,000 population) accessed services at a higher rate than males (340). People aged 12–17 years had the highest rate of both patients (32) and contacts (676). Within this age group, females (968) had a much higher rate of contacts than males (395).

While 60% of patients lived in Major cities and about 1% lived in Very remote areas, the highest patient rate was seen in the more remote areas. The patient rate (per 1,000 population) of patients living in Very remote areas (32) was more than twice that for Major cities (15).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people made up 12% of patients in 2023–24 and their rate (59 per 1,000 population) was almost 4 times that of non‑Indigenous people (16).

People living in SEIFA Quintile 1 (most disadvantaged) had both the highest rate (25 per 1,000 population) and highest contact rate (462 per 1,000 population) of any quintile (Figure CMHC.1).

Figure CMHC.1: Community mental health care patients, by key demographics, 2014–15 to 2023–24

What was the most common principal diagnosis?

In 2023–24, a principal diagnosis was reported for 85% of CMHC service contacts. Mental disorder not otherwise specified was the most frequently recorded principal diagnosis for service contacts (20%). This diagnosis may be used when a patient presents to a service for care but further investigation is required by clinical staff to make a formal diagnosis. Where a specified principal diagnosis was available, the most frequently recorded were:

Schizophrenia (1.6 million, 16% of contacts)
Reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorders (509,000, 5.2%)
Schizoaffective disorders (478,000, 4.9%)
Bipolar affective disorders (393,000, 4%)
Specific personality disorders (380,000, 3.9%)
Depressive episode (354,000, 3.6%).

Figure CMHC.2: Number of community mental health care service contacts for six commonly reported mental health-related principal diagnoses, by age group, 2023–24

Characteristics of service contacts

CMHC service contacts can be conducted as either individual or group sessions and can also be face-to-face, via telephone, or using other forms of direct communication such as video link. They can be 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.

The vast majority of service contacts reported in 2023–24 were individual sessions with 4% being group sessions. Just over half of all contacts were individual sessions, where the patient participated in the contact (termed patient present).

Target population Expand

Treatment periods Expand

Duration of service contacts Expand

Data source Expand

National Community Mental Health Care Database

State and territory health authorities collect a core set of information for the Community Mental Health Care National Minimum Data Set (CMHC NMDS), which is compiled annually into the National Community Mental Health Care Database (NCMHCD). The statistical counting unit used in the NCMHCD is a service contact between either a patient or a third party and a specialised community mental health care (CMHC) service provider.

Data quality over time

Differences in jurisdictional data reporting systems, reduced data coverage or under-reporting of service contacts may contribute to variation in service contact rates. Staff industrial action has resulted in a substantial reduction in data coverage for 2 jurisdictions in previous years: Victoria (2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16 and 2016–17) and Tasmania (2011–12, 2012–13 and 2018–19). New South Wales and the Northern Territory also reported reduced data coverage for 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19. The reductions in both service contact and patient numbers are considered to be primarily due to these missing data. Consequently, long term trends in the total number of service contacts are not available. Further information on data coverage can be found in the CMHC NMDS Data Quality Statement.

Data Quality Statements for National Minimum Data Sets (NMDSs) are published annually in AIHW’s Metadata Online Registry (METEOR). These statements provide information on the environment, timelines, accessibility, interpretability, relevance, accuracy and coherence of the data collection. Visit the Community mental health care NMDS 2023–24: National Community Care Database, 2025 Quality Statement. for previous years are also accessible in METEOR.

Patient count

The number of unique patients provided with service contacts can be derived from the NCMHCD. However, the patient count is limited to people who are registered with state and territory community mental health care systems that have a unique person identifier; a person has one identifier across all individual service providers within a state or territory. The ability of jurisdictions to generate unique person identifiers varies as described in the Data Quality Statementfor the CMHC NMDS.