4. Purpose and scope of document

  1. The purpose of this document is to outline the reporting requirements for provision of the NOCC dataset by States and Territories to the Australian Government. The document provides details about the:
  • data content of all items included in the Mental Health National Outcomes and Casemix Collection;
  • business rules to be followed in the reporting of those data items (i.e., what data are required when); and
  • extract format to be used when preparing data files for submission to the Australian Government.
  1. The document limits its scope to the above and does not include detailed discussion of the data collection and system design issues that need to be resolved at State and Territory level to enable collection of NOCC data. Whilst common issues continue to be faced by all States and Territories, solutions to many of those issues must address local requirements and system contexts. Accordingly, it is understood that all States and Territories will continue to develop and revise their local data collection protocols.
  2. Similarly, the document does not address issues concerning the analysis and interpretation of the outcomes and casemix data to be gathered under the reporting arrangements. There have been many developments in the reporting of NOCC since the introduction several years ago of routine consumer outcomes data in specialised public mental health services in Australia. Readers are referred for further information to the national website (www.amhocn.org) managed by the Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network (AMHOCN).
  3. The reporting requirements outlined in this document represent the agreed national minimum requirements and are not intended to limit the scope of data collections maintained by individual service agencies or States and Territories.