Introduction
The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) was established on 1 July 2001.
Data are provided by more than 1,300 publicly funded government and non-government agencies that deliver specialist alcohol and/or drug treatment services, including community-based ambulatory services and outpatient services.
AODTS agencies provide these data to state and territory authorities who then provide these to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare each financial year for national collation and reporting.
The AODTS NMDS contains longitudinal data on people who receive specialist alcohol and other drug treatment services, the drug(s) for which treatment is sought and the types of treatment provided. The AODTS NMDS can be linked to other national health and welfare services (see NACS linked dataset in the Technical notes as an example) such as:
- National Death Index (NDI)
- Medicare Benefits Schedule data (MBS)
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data (PBS)
- Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC).
These data can be used to analyse combined service use patterns, selected vulnerabilities, client characteristics, and health and welfare outcomes.
The articles in this report draw from multiple methodologies and linkages to highlight key findings among alcohol and other drug treatment services clients.