2. Submission and delivery of MHE NMDS data files¶
Submission, delivery and validation of the 2023-24 MHE data (version 4.01) will occur through the Online Validator. AIHW and the Department of Health and Aged Care 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 18 April 2025. The AIHW and Department of Health and Aged Care are aiming to have Stage 2 validation completed by 19 September 2025 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.
Progress point description | Responsibility | Completion Time | Completion date |
---|---|---|---|
Stage 1 submission | Jurisdictions | 18 April 2025 | |
Submitter comment on all issues within the issue list | Jurisdictions | 4 weeks | 16 May 2025 |
Reviewer reply to all issues within the issue list | AIHW | 6 weeks | 27 June 2025 |
Resolution of any remaining issues | AIHW/Jurisdiction discussion as required | 6 weeks | 8 August 2025 |
Supplementary report | AIHW | 8 August 2025 | |
Jurisdictional response to supplementary report | Jurisdictions | 2 weeks | 22 August 2025 |
Resolution of outstanding issues raised by the supplementary report | AIHW/Jurisdiction discussion as required | 4 weeks | 19 September 2025 |
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, 2023-24 is identified as 2024)
- 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 2023-24 year would be named ‘MHEACT202400001.DAT’.
2.3. Department of Health supplementary non-government organisation information¶
To assist in validating the 2023-24 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 2023-24 through both health and non-health portfolios. Data should be prepared in an Excel workbook, following the basic tabular structure below (Table 2.2).
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 Aged Care 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 Logicly 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
Logicly
Email: support@validator.com.au