Primary Health Network (PHN)

General notes:

  • The Australian Government commissioned Primary Health Networks (PHNs) from 1 July 2015, to provide funding for locally based AOD treatment services in line with community need. This funding is delivered through the Australian Government’s Drug and Alcohol Program, and aims to improve the access to, and effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment services in the community.
  • Data presented in the dashboards are from all publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services (which include PHN-commissioned services) that have reported to the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS).
  • AOD treatment agencies funded by their PHN under the Australian Government Department of Health's Drug and Alcohol Program (DAP) submitted data to the AODTS NMDS for the first time in 2016–17.
  • In these dashboards, data are presented from the 2017–18 collection year to show the trends in each PHN prior to the establishment of the boundaries.

  • Financial year data from agencies include treatment episodes that ended within the period (closed treatment episodes) and excludes those that were ongoing or new (not closed) within the reporting year.

Agencies dashboard:

  • The PHN of the agency was assigned based on the Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) of the treatment agency using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) SA2 2016 to Primary Health Network 2017 concordance file.
  • As SA2 2016 boundaries may not correspond to PHN 2017 boundaries, some agencies may be captured in a neighbouring PHN including those in a neighbouring jurisdiction.

Main treatment for client dashboards:

  • The PHN of the client was based on the postcode of the client using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) Postal Area 2021 to Primary Health Network 2017 concordance file. Clients reporting an invalid postcode were assigned: 'PHN Unallocated' and removed from analysis. In 2021–22, 6,922 records contained invalid postcodes. Correspondence mappings may change over time and data may differ from what was previously published. The numbers presented here may also not correspond to those presented elsewhere based on this correspondence.
  • Results with cell sizes less than 5 have been presented as '<5' (in some cases the value is null), due to this adjustment some values may not sum to the total or 100%.
  • Data collection and reporting practices in Western Australia and Victoria are not directly comparable with data for other jurisdictions because every treatment type provided is reported as a separate episode.

Client demographics dashboard:

  • Client numbers are based on records with a valid statistical linkage key (SLK-581).
  • Client numbers are not comparable to client data published in the AODTS in Australia 2022–23 report. These dashboards include clients who attended treatment in multiple PHN locations in the collection year. The sum of clients across the 31 PHN levels is greater than the state/territory results due to finer geographic granularity of PHNs compared to the state/territory level. The sum of clients across PHNs is also greater than the national distinct client total for 2022–23, which reflects the number of clients treated, irrespective of whether they received treatment in multiple locations. 

Principal drug of concern dashboards:

  • The PHN of the client was based on the postcode of the client using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) Postal Area 2021 to Primary Health Network 2017 concordance file. Clients reporting an invalid postcode were assigned: 'PHN Unallocated' and removed from analysis. In 2021–22, 6,393 records contained invalid postcodes. Correspondence mappings may change over time and data may differ from what was previously published. The numbers presented here may also not correspond to those presented elsewhere based on this correspondence.
  • Results with cell sizes less than 5 have been presented as '<5' (in some cases the value is null), due to this adjustment some values may not sum to the total or 100%.

Jurisdiction-specific notes:

  • Victoria reported comparatively high incidences of ‘Not stated drugs’ (15%) as the drug of concern. This is in part due to service providers adjusting to changes in reporting practices associated with the implementation of a new data collection system in 2019–20. In 2020–21, these drugs of concern were coded as ‘Other drugs of concern’ (14%) to realign with previous coding practices for Victoria. Victoria is working with service providers to encourage more specific reporting of drug of concern.
  • In Queensland, the proportion of cannabis episodes reported as the principal drug of concern is a result of the Police Drug Diversion Program, Illicit Drugs Court Diversion Program and Drug and Alcohol Assessment Referral Program (DAAR) operating in the state.
  • South Australia reports a high proportion of treatment episodes where amphetamines are the principal drug of concern due to the SA Police Drug Diversion Initiative (PDDI). In addition, adult cannabis offences are not included in the PDDI due to the SA Cannabis Expiation Notice legislation.
  • In the Australian Capital Territory, removal of criminal penalties for possession of small quantities of cannabis in the ACT at the end of January 2020 reduced the number of cannabis-related diversions recorded as treatment episodes to low levels (mainly under-18s). Data collection improvements at government-operated services resulted in fewer ‘not stated’ responses in the 2022–23 collection.
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