KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 17aJ – Involuntary hospital treatment, 2022

Identifying and definitional attributes

Metadata item type:Help on this termIndicator
Indicator type:Help on this termIndicator
Short name:Help on this termMHS PI 17aJ: Involuntary hospital treatment, 2022
METEOR identifier:Help on this term753273
Registration status:Help on this term
Description:Help on this term

The percentage of separations with specialised mental health care days where the consumer has a mental health legal status of 'involuntary'.

Rationale:Help on this term
  • Every jurisdiction in Australia has legislation to enable people with mental illness to be treated involuntarily under certain conditions. This means treatment for mental illness, including medication, restraint, seclusion and therapeutic interventions, can be provided without the individual’s consent, either in hospital or in the community.
  • Monitoring the frequency and proportion of patient care provided on an involuntary basis are important steps in understanding the use of restrictive practices in Australian public hospitals.
Indicator set:Help on this termKey Performance Indicators for Australian Public Mental Health Services (Jurisdictional level version) (2022)
Health, Recorded 06/04/2022

Collection and usage attributes

Computation description:Help on this term

Coverage/Scope:

State/territory public admitted patient mental health service units. Only public hospitals are in scope for this indicator.

Methodology:

  • Reference period for 2022 performance reporting: 2020–21.
  • Patient days are for all separations that ended within the reference period.

  • Mental health legal status is defined for this indicator as: ‘Whether a person is treated on an involuntary basis under the relevant state or territory mental health legislation’.

  • Involuntary patients are persons who are compulsorily treated in hospital or in the community under relevant state and territory legislation for the purpose of assessment or provision of appropriate treatment or care. All types of treatment orders are in scope for this indicator, regardless of the setting of the treatment order. For example, admitted patients who are under a community treatment order are in scope for the numerator of this indicator.

Presented as a:

  • percentage
  • number.
Computation:Help on this term

Number

(Numerator ÷ Denominator) x 100

Numerator:Help on this term

Number of separations in public hospitals occurring within the reference period with specialised mental health care days that are involuntary.

Numerator data elements:Help on this term
Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Specialised mental health service—number of separations in public hospitals with specialised mental health care days that are involuntary

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data

Guide for use

Number of psychiatric care days greater than 0.

This data element is used to identify episodes of care where specialised mental health care have been received.

Denominator:Help on this term

Total number of separations with specialised mental health care days in public hospitals occurring within the reference period

Denominator data elements:Help on this term
Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Specialised mental health service—number of separations in public hospitals

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data

Guide for use

Number of psychiatric care days greater than 0.

This data element is used to identify episodes of care where specialised mental health care have been received.

Disaggregation:Help on this term

Service variables: acute/non-acute units, and target population.

Consumer attributes: age, sex, and Indigenous status.

Disaggregated data excludes missing or not reported data.

Disaggregation data elements:Help on this term
Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Admitted mental health service—admitted patient care program type

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data 2020–21

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Admitted mental health service—target population

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data 2020–21

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Target population refers to the target population of the service unit.

Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Person—age

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data 2020–21

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Person—Indigenous status

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data 2020–21

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Data Element

Person—sex

Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data 2020–21

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Comments:Help on this term

Most recent data available for reporting: 2020–21. This indicator refers to the inpatient setting only.

Representational attributes

Representation class:Help on this termPercentage
Data type:Help on this termReal
Unit of measure:Help on this termEpisode
Format:Help on this term

N[NN.NN]

Indicator conceptual framework

Framework and dimensions:Help on this termSafety

Data source attributes

Data sources:Help on this term
Data Source

State/territory admitted patient data

Frequency

Annual

Data custodian

State/territory health authorities

Accountability attributes

Reporting requirements:Help on this term

National Health Reform Agreement

Organisation responsible for providing data:Help on this term

State/territory health departments

Accountability:Help on this term

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Other issues caveats:Help on this term

The use of involuntary treatment is governed by either legislation (a Mental Health Act or equivalent) or mandatory policy within each state and territory. The definitions used within the legislation and policies vary between jurisdictions including, but not limited to, forensic-related legislation that applies to admitted patient mental health services. These variations should be recognised in the interpretation of the indicator.

Source and reference attributes

Submitting organisation:Help on this termAustralian Institute of Health and Welfare

Relational attributes

Related metadata references:Help on this term
Supersedes KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 17aJ – Involuntary hospital treatment, 2021
See also KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 17bJ – Involuntary patient days, 2022