Conclusion
This report presents the first national insights into mental health service use in public hospitals among people with disability who receive government disability supports. Using linked NHDH data, and the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) disability flags, the report was guided by lived experience through an inclusive research approach. The findings show that people receiving disability supports have much higher rates of emergency department (ED) presentations and hospitalisations for mental health care compared with people with no government disability supports.
These patterns are consistent across all groups examined, including National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants, Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients, and those receiving both NDIS and DSP supports.
This analysis also has important limitations. It represents people with disability who receive government disability supports and does not capture all people with disability. Some groups are under-represented or cannot be identified in the data, and results cannot yet be reported by disability type. The findings therefore provide a starting point for understanding patterns of care, rather than a complete picture of mental health experiences.
Future work
Our inclusive research team has identified several areas where we would like to continue building this work with and for people with disability, including:
- interactions of different mental health service types
- different disability types, once we have community endorsed methods to identify these individuals in the data
- people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, who access government services
- different age groups and/or stages of life.