Australian National Minimum Data Set for Clients of Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services: findings of the national pilot and developments in implementation

Data about drug treatment populations and the services they receive are an important source of information for the understanding and addressing of drug-related harms. In 1998 the Minimum Data Set Project for Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services was conducted in Australia to develop a set of standards that would enable the collection of meaningful national data. This paper reports on the findings of a 6-week pilot collection period in 1998. It showed that the integration of agreed data collection procedures in the daily practice of agencies was feasible, capable of yielding worthwhile data, and may have immediate advantages for the provision of treatment services in Australia. This dataset commenced national collection in July 2000 and ongoing developments are discussed.