2. Submission and delivery of MHE NMDS data files¶

Submission, delivery and validation of the 2021-22 MHE data (version 3.01) will occur through the Online Validator. AIHW and the Department of Health will obtain jurisdictional DAT files directly from the Validator using the download functionality available to reviewers.

2.1. Timelines¶

All jurisdictions must submit a stage 1 compliant file using the Online Validator by 23 April 2023. The AIHW and Department of Health are aiming to have Stage 2 validation completed by 24 September 2023 in accordance with the schedule in Table 2.1. This permits the updating of the MHE data on the Mental health services in Australia website in by early 2024.

Table 2.1 MHE NMDS 2021-22 data validation¶
Progress point description	Responsibility	Completion Time	Completion date
Stage 1 submission	Jurisdictions		23 April 2023
Submitter comment on all issues within the issue list	Jurisdictions	4 weeks	21 May 2023
Reviewer reply to all issues within the issue list	AIHW	6 weeks	2 July 2023
Resolution of any remaining issues	AIHW/Jurisdiction discussion as required	6 weeks	13 August 2023
Supplementary report	AIHW		13 August 2023
Jurisdictional response to supplementary report	Jurisdictions	2 weeks	27 August 2023
Resolution of outstanding issues raised by the supplementary report	AIHW/Jurisdiction discussion as required	4 weeks	24 September 2023

2.2. File type and naming convention¶

DAT files should be a single Fixed Format data file, with each record in the file being terminated with Carriage Return (CR) and Line Feed (LF) characters.

The data file will have the naming convention of MHESSSYYYYNNNNN.DAT where:

MHE denotes ‘Mental Health Establishments’
SSS is the abbreviation for the State name, using the following convention:
- New South Wales = NSW
- Victoria = VIC
- Queensland = QLD
- Western Australia = WAU
- South Australia = SAU
- Tasmania = TAS
- Australian Capital Territory = ACT
- Northern Territory = NTE
YYYY indicates the reporting year covered in the file, using the convention where financial years are abbreviated by referring to the last calendar year of the pair (for example, 2021-22 is identified as 2022)
NNNNN represents an incremental batch number (leading zeros present).

Adherence to this approach requires that any resubmitted files should have a batch number greater than the file they replace. For example, the first MHE data file submitted by the Australian Capital Territory covering the 2021-22 year would be named ‘MHEACT202200001.DAT’.

2.3. Department of Health supplementary non-government organisation information¶

To assist in validating the 2021-22 MHE NMDS data, states and territories are requested by the Department of Health to provide a supplementary file relating to NGO payments that provides details of organisations funded. As in previous years, this file is to be used as the basis for ensuring consistency between jurisdictions, and across years, in the reporting of NGO data.

The supplementary file should provide details on NGO payments administered in 2021-22 through both health and non-health portfolios. Data should be prepared in an Excel workbook, following the basic tabular structure below (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2 Supplementary NGO excel file¶
NGO name	Level at which funds are allocated to NGO (Health central, Region, Non health portfolio)	Region ID (if applicable)	Funding amount (whole Dollars)

The supplementary NGO Excel workbook should be sent via email to the Department of Health and the AIHW, when DAT files are submitted to the Validator. Please use the following email address: mentalhealth@aihw.gov.au

2.4. Additional information and queries¶

AIHW and Strategic Data staff are available to answer any queries regarding changes to the Validator’s MHE module and validation rules. In order to obtain a coordinated response, requests should be sent to the following parties simultaneously:

AIHW

Email: mentalhealth@aihw.gov.au

Strategic Data

Email: support@validator.com.au