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HEALTH AND DISABILITY STATISTICS

OBJECTIVES

The Health and Disability Statistics program provides statistical leadership to inform priorities for improving health outcomes and supporting all people to participate actively in society. Information produced by the program includes statistics relating to health status (including causes of death); health-related services; patient experiences; disability; health risk factors; and impacts on sub-groups within the population.

Statistics on health and disability describe an important aspect of wellbeing, which can impact on people's capacity to participate in the labour force, and more broadly, in the community. Changes in the levels of health and disability measures can inform both the development of interventions for prevention and care, and the need for related services over time. These statistics provide information on the impacts of programs and service provision, and can be used to assess areas of unmet need. They are widely used in research related to health and community issues.

Clients of the program include Australian Government agencies including the departments of: Health and Social Services; the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; the National Health Performance Authority; state and territory government agencies; academic and research institutions; social welfare organisations providing health and disability services; and the general public.

OUTPUTS

The program produces a range of outputs including: frameworks and standards; statistics, microdata and associated metadata; information/technical papers; guides; and analytical articles.

Key outputs include:

• National Health Survey: Summary of Results (cat. no. 4364.0), which provides information on the health status of the population with a focus on particular conditions, risk factor outcomes and population groups
• Causes of Death, Australia (cat. no. 3303.0), which provides information on causes of death based on the International Classification of Diseases - Version 10
• Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of Findings (cat. no. 4839.0), which provides information on the interaction of health services and their clients
• Private Hospitals, Australia (cat. no. 4390.0), which provides information on the structure and operations of the Private Hospital Sector
• Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings (cat. no. 4430.0), which provides information on the nature and extent of disability and associated needs for care and support, as well as the circumstances of carers.

• undertake a review of long term health data needs with key clients - due December 2015
• produce additional reports around nutrition - throughout 2016
• produce additional reports from the mental health-related services-Census integrated dataset - throughout 2016
• provide internationally comparable disability statistics and investigate their relationship with the 2015 Survey of Disability Ageing and Carers - progressively through to early 2017
• improve information about coordination of health care - through to 2018
• contribute to the development and implementation of the World Health Organisations' International Classification of Diseases - Version 11, for use in mortality and morbidity coding in Australia - ongoing
• facilitate the release of causes of death microdata collaboration with the Australian Coordinating Registry and State and Territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriage - ongoing
• investigate possibilities to bring together datasets where opportunities exist to better inform policy makers and researchers - ongoing.