The National Outpatient Care Database (NOCD) includes aggregate data on services provided to non-admitted, non-emergency patients registered for care in outpatient clinics of public hospitals. The data supplied are based on the National Minimum Data Set for Outpatient care (OPC NMDS). While the scope of the NOCD covers public hospitals in public hospital peer groups A or B (Principal referral and specialist women’s and children’s hospitals or Large hospitals) in Australian hospital statistics of the previous year, data were also provided by some states and territories for hospitals in peer groups other than A and B. For 2010–11, the proportion of outpatient occasions of service reported to the NOCD was estimated as 96% for public hospitals in peer groups A and B and 78% for all public hospitals. The NOCD includes data on the type of outpatient clinic and counts of individual and group occasions of service. The database includes data for each year from 2005–06 to 2010–11. Summary of key issues • While the scope of the National Outpatient Care Database (NOCD) covers public hospitals in public hospital peer groups A and B (Principal referral and specialist women’s and children’s and Large hospitals), data were also provided by some states and territories for hospitals in peer groups other than A and B: – New South Wales provided data for 2 Medium hospitals – Victoria provided data for 1 Medium hospital – Western Australia provided data for 5 Medium hospitals, 2 Small remote acute hospitals, 1 Small non-acute hospital and 1 Rehabilitation hospital – South Australia provided data for 1 Medium hospital – Tasmania provided data for 1 Medium hospital. • For 2010–11, the proportion of outpatient occasions of service reported to the NOCD was estimated as 96% for public hospitals in peer groups A and B and 78% for all public hospitals. • The data in the NOCD are not necessarily representative of the hospitals not included in the NOCD. Hospitals not included do not necessarily have outpatient clinics that are equivalent to those in hospitals in peer groups A and B. • The data collection does not include care provided to non-admitted patients in emergency departments. • Although the NOCD is a valuable source of information on services provided to non-admitted, non-emergency patients, the data have limitations. For example, there is variation in admission practices between states and territories and there is variation in the types of services provided for non-admitted patients in a hospital setting. • For 2010–11, some states re-categorised some outpatient clinics to align with the Activity Based Funding Tier 2 structure. Therefore, these data may not be comparable to data reported for previous years. |