Data source
Non-admitted Patient Care Data Collections
Data on non-admitted patient palliative care are sourced from the Non-admitted Patient Care Data Collections, which capture comprehensive data on non-admitted patient service events across public hospitals, Local Hospital Networks, and other public hospital services, managed by state or territory health authorities in Australia. The latest available data at the date of publication of this report is 2022–23. A complete Non-admitted patient care data collections: Data Quality Statements 2022–23 (PDF 403KB) is available online.
The Non-admitted Patient Care Data Collections include both aggregated clinic-level and episode-level details, providing insights into outpatient clinic activities, individual and group service events, and the various funding sources of these services.
- Aggregated clinic-level data – collected under the Non-admitted patient care aggregate National Best Endeavours Data Set (NAPC aggregate NBEDS). It is sourced from the National Non-admitted Patient Care Aggregate Database (NNAPC(agg)D) and includes information on:
- the type of outpatient clinic
- individual and group service events
- funding source of service events
- whether the service involved care from multiple health care providers.
- Episode-level data – collected under the Non-admitted patient National Best Endeavours Data Set (NAP NBEDS). It is sourced from the National Non-admitted Patient Database (NNAP(el)D), and includes information on:
- selected patient characteristics
- service delivery mode and setting
- type of care provided
- additional information that is also provided as part of clinic-level data.
Note that the count in episode-level data represents a service event rather than a patient. Therefore, patients receiving multiple service events within the reporting period will have multiple records in the data.
These two datasets collect data on non-admitted activity in the public hospital system. They are designed to be complementary, with the NAPC aggregate NBEDS providing remaining non-admitted activity that is not at the episode-level.
These data collections include non-admitted patient service events involving non-admitted patients provided by:
- public hospitals
- Local Hospital Networks
- other public hospital services that are managed by a state or territory health authority and are included in the General list of in-scope public hospital services, which have been developed under the National Health Reform Agreement (2011).
These data collections exclude all services covered by:
- the Admitted patient care national minimum data set (NMDS), that is all non-admitted services provided to admitted patients
- the Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS, that is all non-admitted services provided to emergency department patients
- the Emergency services care and the Emergency services care aggregate NBEDS, that is all non-admitted services provided to emergency service patients
- the Community mental health care NMDS
- service events which deliver non-clinical care, for example, activities such as home cleaning, meals on wheels or home maintenance.
For Non-admitted Patient Care Data Collections, a non-admitted service is a specialty unit or organisational arrangement under which a jurisdictional health authority, Local Hospital Network (which are defined as those entities recognised as such by the relevant state or territory health authority) or public hospital provides non-admitted services.
Note that this report only includes the episode-level data for palliative care-related service events.
Identifying non-admitted patient palliative care
Two data items – ‘care type’ and ‘Tier 2 Outpatient Clinic type’ – capture information indicating palliative care has been provided to a patient.
Coding ‘palliative care’ as a ‘care type’
A ‘care type’ is recorded in the NNAP(el) database and assigned for each non-admitted patient service event. It describes the type of care provided at a non-admitted patient service event. As such, a patient can be counted as multiple non-admitted patient service events in one day, provided that every visit meets each of the criteria in the service event definition.
In this report, the ‘care type’ recorded as ‘palliative care’ identifies primary palliative care service events.
Coding ‘palliative care’ as a ‘Tier 2 Outpatient Clinic type’
In addition to the information on the provision of palliative care collected via the ‘care type’ item, information on palliative care is also recorded in the NNAPC(agg)D and NNAP(el) database under ‘Tier 2 Outpatient Clinic Type’. Tier 2 categorises hospital’s non-admitted services into classes based on the clinician and the service provided (IHACPA 2023).
In this report, the Tier 2 Non-Admitted Services Definitions Manual 2022–23 was used to identify services related to palliative care, including:
- Medical consultations for palliative care (coded as 20.13 for palliative care).
- Allied health and/or clinical nurse specialist interventions for palliative care (coded as 40.35 for palliative care).
For more information, see IHACPA website.
Coverage
Each year the collection increasingly reports on episode-level data, however, not all data suppliers are able to report data in this format. In 2022–23, 83% of non-admitted patient service events were recorded at the episode-level. The data presented in this report therefore is likely to underestimate the counts of all non-admitted patient service events for palliative-care delivered in Australia. There are variations among states and territories in admission practices and the types of services provided for non-admitted patients through hospitals (AIHW 2017). This must be considered when interpreting non-admitted patient data.
Note that due to the evolving scope of the non-admitted patient care data collections, reporting on time series data are not recommended (AIHW 2024b).
Further information
Comprehensive hospital statistics from the Non-admitted Patient Care Data Collections, including more information about these collections, are released by AIHW on an annual basis in Non-admitted patients (AIHW 2024a). Metadata information for the Non-admitted Patient Care data for the reporting period is published in the AIHW’s online metadata registry – Non-admitted patient care aggregate NBEDS 2022–23 and Non-admitted patient NBEDS 2022–23.
References
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2017) Variation in hospital admission policies and practices: Australian hospital statistics, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 10 June 2024.
AIHW (2024a) Non-admitted patients, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 4 July 2024.
AIHW (2024b) Non-admitted patient care 2022–23 Appendix information, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 20 June 2024.
IHACPA (Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority) (2023) Tier 2 Non-Admitted Services Compendium 2023–24, IHACPA, Australian Government, accessed 23 June 2024.