Practice Incentives Program Quality Improvement Measures: annual data update 2024–25

Findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) have revealed that of the Australian population aged 14 years and over, more than two-thirds (69%) have consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, with 5.2% consuming alcohol daily in 2022–23. This study also found that around 1 in 3 people (31% or 6.6 million) aged 14 years and over consumed alcohol at risky levels in 2022–23 (that is, having more than 10 standard drinks per week on average in the past year or having more than 4 standard drinks in a single day at least once a month in the past year). Men aged 18 years and over were more likely than women (35.8% compared to 18.1%) to drink at risky levels (ABS 2022).

Alcohol-induced deaths are defined as those that can be directly attributed to alcohol use (that is, where an alcohol-related condition is recorded as the underlying cause of death), as determined by toxicology and pathology reports. There were 1,667 estimated alcohol-induced deaths in 2023, representing an age-standardised rate of 5.6 deaths per 100,000 people. Of all alcohol induced deaths, 9 in 10 (90.2% or 1,504) were related to chronic alcohol consumption, such as alcoholic liver cirrhosis, while acute alcohol-induced deaths (including alcohol poisoning) accounted for 163 deaths (ABS 2023a).

Capture of results recorded outside of the general practice setting

Results arising from clinical intervention conducted outside of the service that are known and recorded by the practice are included in the measure. Where alcohol consumption was recorded elsewhere but is not known to the practice, this is not captured in the report. For example, this might be where the rehabilitation centre’s information systems may not be compatible with the clinical information system (CIS) of the client’s usual general practice.

Other sources of relevant data

Data on prevalence of health risk factors such as alcohol consumption status of Australians are captured in the National Health Survey (NHS) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS). There are other administrative data collections where the relevant data from these client-provider interactions are captured, for example, smoking and drug rehabilitation services, and community health centres.