Mental health services in Australia

This section presents information on specialist disability support services, provided under the National Disability Agreement (NDA) to service users with a Psychiatric disability either as their Primary disability or as an Other significant disability. Unless otherwise stated, service users with a psychiatric disability include all service users with a psychiatric disability, regardless of whether it is considered a primary or other significant disability.

The information presented in this section has been extracted from the 2016–17 Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (Disability Services NMDS); comprising national administrative data on disability support services. The data source section provides further information on coverage, data quality, and other aspects of the Disability Services NMDS.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) began operating at trial sites in July 2013. From July 2016, it began transitioning to the full scheme and the roll-out is ongoing. Most existing NDA service users are expected to move to the NDIS over time, but not all will ( AIHW 2018 ). This section also includes data on the number of NDA service users who transitioned to the NDIS in the period 2013–14 to 2016–17. The data source section provides further information on the NDIS. The AIHW is pursuing data about support services provided to people with psychosocial disability through the NDIS.

Data downloads:

Psychiatric disability support 2016–17 tables (780KB XLS)

Psychiatric disability support 2016–17 section (464KB)

Data coverage includes the time period 2005–06 to 2016–17. This section data was last updated in October 2018.

Key points

Service users with a psychiatric disability

Across Australia, 330,984 people made use of specialist disability support services provided under the NDA during 2016–17 (AIHW 2018 ). Of these, 100,939 people had a psychiatric disability, with 64,578 of these having a primary psychiatric disability.

In 2016–17, there were 413.9 users of psychiatric disability support services per 100,000 population nationally (Figure DIS.1). South Australia had the highest rate (537.5) of service users followed by Victoria (500.8) and Queensland (444.6). With the transition of clients into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Australian Capital Territory did not collect data under the National Disability Agreement during 2016–17. Consequently, ACT data only includes users of Australian Government administered services.

Figure DIS.1 Alternative text - Source data:Psychiatric disability support services 2016–17 Table DIS.1 (780KB XLS).

Over the 5 years to 2016–17, the rate of service users per 100,000 population with a psychiatric disability increased an average of 3.0% annually, from 367.8 in 2012–13 to 413.9 in 2016–17 (Figure DIS.2). These changes should be interpreted with caution, due to changes in the methodology used over time. Also, data from 2013–14 onwards are affected by the progressive introduction of the NDIS—as a result, analysing trends in Disability Services NMDS data over time is complex, but a decrease in the number of clients accessing the NDA is expected as the roll-out of the NDIS progresses. More information can be found in the data source section.

Figure DIS.2 Alternative text - Source data: Psychiatric disability support services 2016–17 Table DIS.1 (780KB XLS).

Nationally, there were 264.8 service users per 100,000 population with a primary psychiatric disability (Figure DIS.3). Victoria had the highest rate (360.8) followed by South Australia (288.2) and Queensland (282.3).

Figure DIS.3 Alternative text - Source data: Psychiatric disability support services 2016–17 Table DIS.1 (780KB XLS).

NDA service users who transitioned to the NDIS

As at 30 June 2017, there were 6,093 people with a primary psychosocial disability who were active participants with an approved plan (a document outlining a participant’s needs and goals) under the NDIS (NDIA 2017 ). The NDIS began transitioning to the full scheme from July 2016. The NDIS roll-out is ongoing.

During 2016–17, about 29,000 NDA service users transitioned to the NDIS (AIHW 2018 ). Of these, there were 2,963 service users with a psychiatric disability. This number is likely to be an underestimate, as it excludes data from the Australian Capital Territory Government who did not report data to the Disability Services NMDS for 2015–16 or 2016–17. There was a large increase in the number of service users with psychiatric disability who transitioned to the NDIS in 2016–17 compared to previous years. This reflects the commencement of the full scheme roll-out from 1 July 2016.

Most service users with a psychiatric disability who transitioned to the NDIS in 2016–17 were aged 35–54 years (1,381 or 47%). Of service users with a psychiatric disability who transitioned to the NDIS in 2016–17, there were 1,617 (55%) who lived in a private residence, 2,440 (82%) reported the Disability Support Pension as their main source of income, and 1,335 (45%) were not in the labour force.