NEW ZEALAND HEALTH INFORMATION SERVICE
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Guide to NZHIS National Collections:
Mental Health Information National Collection (MHINC)
ScopePurpose
The Mental Health Information National Collection (MHINC) is a national database of information collected by the Ministry of Health to support policy formation, monitoring, and research.
Content
The MHINC contains information on the provision of secondary mental health and alcohol and drug services purchased by the government. This includes secondary inpatient, outpatient and community care provided by hospitals and non-government organisations (NGOs).
The collection does not include information on the provision of primary mental health care, for example, from GPs.
The information collected includes details of care provided and access to mental health care, as well as demographic information (such as sex, date of birth, ethnicity), diagnosis, legal status, and referral and discharge information.
Start date
The MHINC was started in July 2000.
Guide for use
The MHINC contains the raw data sent in by providers, and should reflect what each District Health Board/NGO has in its own patient management system. As at July 2003, most NGOs are not reporting to the MHINC. For further details refer to the MHINC Data Dictionary.
Collection methods – guide for providers
All hospitals and NGOs that receive government mental health and alcohol and other drug funding are contractually required to send timely, accurate and completed data to the MHINC, including:
- publicly funded hospitals
- community mental health care providers
- alcohol and drug services
- residential and supported accommodation mental health care providers.
It is the responsibility of healthcare providers to ensure timely collection of data at each site. Data sent to NZHIS is expected to reflect all contacts occurring between the reporting start and end dates.
Frequency of updates
MHINC data is reported to NZHIS on a monthly basis by the 20th day of the following month (for example, January 2002 data would be required by 20 February 2002).
Security of data
The MHINC database is only accessed by authorised NZHIS staff for maintenance, data quality and audit purposes.
Privacy issues
The Ministry of Health is required to ensure that the release of information recognises any legislation related to the privacy of health information, in particular the Official Information Act 1982, the Privacy Act 1993 and the Health Information Privacy Code 1994.
National reports and publications
MHINC data is extracted and loaded into the Mental Health Information Collection on the 10th and 25th of each month for analysis and reporting purposes. Reporting is done via the Mental Health Information Collection (MHDW).
Data provision