Health service use in the year before death by suicide among ex-serving ADF members

Web report

Last updated: 09 Sep 2025

Topic: Veterans

Media release

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025) Health service use in the year before death by suicide among ex-serving ADF members, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 23 June 2026.

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AIHW in partnership with DVA and Defence have established a linked dataset to provide greater insight into the health service needs of current and ex-serving ADF members. This dataset, the Veteran Health Dataset (VHD), allows the service use patterns for (de-identified) individuals to be tracked over time.

The VHD primarily links whole of health system datasets with information on current and former Defence personnel held by the Defence and DVA. The health system datasets provide information on interactions with hospitals (admitted and emergency department care), general practitioners and medical specialists (MBS) and medicine (PBS/RPBS). The health system data also provides information on deaths including deaths by suicide. The Defence and DVA data are linked to the health system datasets to identify ex-serving members and provide information on relevant characteristics.

The VHD is described in detail in the Technical notes for the research series (see Health services overview page)

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Caution: Some readers may find parts of this content confronting or distressing

Please carefully consider your needs when reading the following information. This report contains information and statistics on suicidality and self-harm of ex-serving ADF members.

If this material raises concerns for you, support is available. Please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or Defence All-hours Support Line on 1800 628 036, or Open Arms - Veterans and Families Counselling, available free of charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or see other ways you can seek help. Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides free, confidential military-aware mental health and wellbeing support. Available 24/7 to anyone who has served one day of continuous full-time service in the ADF and their immediate families.

The information included here places an emphasis on data, and as such, can appear to depersonalise the pain and loss behind the statistics. The AIHW respectfully acknowledges the individuals, families and communities affected by ADF member and veteran suicide or intentional self-harm each year in Australia.

The AIHW supports the use of the Mindframe guidelines on responsible, accurate and safe suicide and self-harm reporting. Please consider these guidelines when reporting on statistics on the monitoring of suicide and self-harm.

Health service use in the year before death by suicide among ex-serving ADF members

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