Mental health
Residential mental health care services - National data
Last updated:
About 7,400 residents received about 9,100 episodes of residential mental health care; with an average of 41 days per episode.
People aged 18–24 had the highest rate of episodes of care (7 per 10,000 population), largely driven by females (9).
Schizophrenia (F20) was the most frequently reported principal diagnosis (22% of episodes) followed by Specific personality disorders (F60) (12%).
A separate section focusing on state and territory data can be found on the following page - State and territory residential mental health care
Summary
Residential mental health care (RMHC) services provide specialised mental health care on an overnight basis in a domestic-like environment. These facilities may provide a range of services including rehabilitation, treatment, and extended care. Data from the National Residential Mental Health Care Database (NRMHCD), contributed by states and territories, are used to describe the care provided by these services. More information about the NRMHCD is available in the data source section. Additional information on residential care services can be found in the Specialised mental health care facilities. For information on patients with an involuntary mental health legal status in residential care services, refer to Involuntary treatment in mental health care.
In 2023–24, there were about 7,400 residents receiving almost 9,100 episodes of residential care in Australia. Residents received an average number of 41 days per episode with a national overall number of about 377,000 residential care days.
Spotlight data
Number of residents, episodes and principal diagnoses and access by remoteness area, age group, 2014–15 to 2023–24
Includes 4 interactive charts containing time series residential mental health care data from 2014–15 to 2023–24.
Source: National Residential Mental Health Care Tables 2023–24 (Tables RMHC.1, RMHC.2, RMHC.4)
How many people access residential mental health care services?
Between 2014–15 and 2023–24, the rate (per 10,000 population) of residents remained steady (3), while the rate (per 10,000 population) of episodes increased from 2 to 3 over the same period.
There were almost 9,100 continuing and completed episodes of residential care in 2023–24, comprising 377,000 residential care days at an average of 41 days per episode.
Resident demographics
In 2023–24, the highest rate of episodes of care was for people aged 18–24 years (7 per 10,000 population). This is largely driven by the rate for female residents in this age group (9) which was more than twice that of males (4).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people had more than 3 times the rate of episodes in 2023–24 (10) than those Non-Indigenous Australians (3). These rates are adjusted for age differences between the First Nations and non-Indigenous populations.
People born in Australia had about twice the rate of episodes (4) as people born overseas (2).
By geographical remoteness, the highest rate of episodes was for people living in Inner regional areas (5) while the lowest rate occurred in Major cities (3). The rate in Outer regional, and Remote and Very remote areas has increased between 2014–15 (2 and 1 per 10,000 population, respectively) and 2023–24 (4 in both areas). The rates remained stable in both Major cities (3) and Inner regional areas (5) over the decade.
Areas classified as SEIFA quintile 1 (most disadvantaged) had the highest rate of episodes (5), more than twice the rate of SEIFA quintile 5 (least disadvantaged) (2) (Figure RMHC.1).
Figure RMHC.1: Episodes of residential mental health care, by resident demographics, 2014–15 to 2023–24
Charts showing the number of episodes and rate (per 10,000 population) of residential care episodes by resident demographics.
Source: National Residential Mental Health Care Tables 2023–24 (Table RMHC.2)
Principal diagnoses
In 2023–24, a principal diagnosis was reported for 92% of RMHC episodes of care, an increase of 81% from 2014–15 (Table RMHC.4). The data exclude episodes coded as Mental disorder not otherwise specified (F99), which accounted for 9% of episodes in 2014–15 and 4% in 2023–24. Where a specified principal diagnosis was available, the most frequently recorded were (Figure RMHC.3):
- Schizophrenia (F20) (22% of all episodes)
- Specific personality disorders (F60) (12%)
- Reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorder (F43) (10%)
- Schizoaffective disorders (F25) (9%)
- Depressive disorder (F32) (9%)
- Bipolar affective disorders (F31) (8%)
During the past decade, from 2014–15 to 2023–24, Schizophrenia (F20) consistently represented the highest proportion (22%–27%) of principal diagnoses for episodes. The proportion of Specific personality disorders (F60) diagnoses steadily increased between 2014–15 (11%) and 2020–21 (16%), remained stable in 2021–22, and then declined to 12% by 2023–24. The other diagnoses remained relatively stable over the period (Figure RMHC.3).
Figure RMHC.3: Proportions of residential mental health care episodes for most common principal diagnoses, 2014–15 to 2023–24
Line chart showing the percentage for the most common principal diagnoses in residential care episodes, 2014–15 to 2023–24.
| Year | Schizophrenia (F20) | Schizoaffective disorders (F25) | Bipolar affective disorders (F31) | Depressive episode (F32) | Reaction to severe stress and... (F43) | Specific personality disorders (F60) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | 25% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 4% | 11% |
| 2015–16 | 27% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 4% | 10% |
| 2016–17 | 24% | 9% | 7% | 9% | 6% | 11% |
| 2017–18 | 27% | 9% | 7% | 9% | 5% | 12% |
| 2018–19 | 25% | 9% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 13% |
| 2019–20 | 26% | 10% | 7% | 9% | 7% | 14% |
| 2020–21 | 23% | 9% | 7% | 10% | 7% | 16% |
| 2021–22 | 22% | 10% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 16% |
| 2022–23 | 23% | 10% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 14% |
| 2023–24 | 22% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 10% | 12% |
Source:
National Residential Mental Health Care Tables 2023–24 (Table RMHC.4)
|
Data source overview
Characteristics of residential care episodes
Length of completed residential stay
In 2023–24, about 8,000 residential episodes of care ended before the end of the reference period (on or before 30 June 2024). This is referred to as a completed residential stay. The most frequent episode length was 2 weeks or less (53% of total episodes), the second duration was from 2 weeks–1 month (31%), and only 3% of episodes of care lasted more than 1 year (Figure RMHC.4).
Figure RMHC.4: Residential mental health care episodes by length of completed residential stay, 2014–15 to 2023–24
An interactive line chart showing the number and per cent of residential care episodes by length of completed residential stay from 2014–15 to 2023–24 (refer to Table RMHC.3).
| Year | 0–2 weeks | >2 weeks–1 month | >1–3 months | >3–6 months | >6–12 months | >1–5 years | >5 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | 3982 episodes | 1879 episodes | 575 episodes | 153 episodes | 142 episodes | 128 episodes | 10 episodes |
| 2015–16 | 3751 episodes | 1973 episodes | 599 episodes | 197 episodes | 174 episodes | 153 episodes | 8 episodes |
| 2016–17 | 3387 episodes | 1980 episodes | 561 episodes | 197 episodes | 149 episodes | 167 episodes | 21 episodes |
| 2017–18 | 3323 episodes | 2043 episodes | 645 episodes | 304 episodes | 188 episodes | 131 episodes | 4 episodes |
| 2018–19 | 3575 episodes | 2132 episodes | 612 episodes | 227 episodes | 191 episodes | 214 episodes | 26 episodes |
| 2019–20 | 3802 episodes | 2163 episodes | 664 episodes | 231 episodes | 220 episodes | 230 episodes | 19 episodes |
| 2020–21 | 4651 episodes | 2168 episodes | 620 episodes | 217 episodes | 181 episodes | 204 episodes | 14 episodes |
| 2021–22 | 4580 episodes | 2162 episodes | 580 episodes | 213 episodes | 197 episodes | 206 episodes | 12 episodes |
| 2022–23 | 4252 episodes | 2390 episodes | 663 episodes | 221 episodes | 230 episodes | 238 episodes | 13 episodes |
| 2023–24 | 4226 episodes | 2487 episodes | 632 episodes | 221 episodes | 192 episodes | 258 episodes | 15 episodes |
| Year | 0–2 weeks | >2 weeks–1 month | >1–3 months | >3–6 months | >6–12 months | >1–5 years | >5 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | 58% | 27% | 8% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 0% |
| 2015–16 | 55% | 29% | 9% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 0% |
| 2016–17 | 52% | 31% | 9% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 0% |
| 2017–18 | 50% | 31% | 10% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 0% |
| 2018–19 | 51% | 31% | 9% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| 2019–20 | 52% | 30% | 9% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| 2020–21 | 58% | 27% | 8% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 0% |
| 2021–22 | 58% | 27% | 7% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 0% |
| 2022–23 | 53% | 30% | 8% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| 2023–24 | 53% | 31% | 8% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 0% |
Source:
National Residential Mental Health Care Tables 2023–24 (Table RMHC.3)
|
Data source overview
Where can I find more information?
You may also be interested in:
National Residential Mental Health Care Database
The scope for this collection is all episodes of care in all government-funded residential mental health care (RMHC) services in Australia, except those RMHC services that are in receipt of funding under the Aged Care Act 1997 and subject to other Commonwealth reporting requirements. The inclusion of non‑government-operated services in receipt of government funding is optional.
Data Quality Statements for National Minimum Data Sets (NMDSs) are published annually via the AIHW’s Metadata Online Registry (METEOR). Statements provide information on the institutional environment, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability, relevance, accuracy and coherence. Previous years’ data quality statements are also accessible in METEOR.
In 2017–18, Queensland reclassified existing Community Care Units from admitted patient care units to residential mental health care units.
For information related to staffing, beds and the number of RMHC facilities that provide specialised mental health care, visit the Specialised mental health care facilities section. More information about the coverage and data quality of this collection can be found in METEOR.