Tool № 11 · AOD Treatment Episodes

Northern Sydney AODTS 2023-24: 2,941 treatment episodes.

AIHW publishes real per-PHN AODTS NMDS treatment-episode counts for the 2023-24 reporting year. Northern Sydney catchment received 2,941 treatment episodes — about 3.8 per 1,000 adults (national reference 11.6/1,000). The substance + treatment-type mix below is also from the AIHW release.

§ 01 · Substance mix

What Northern Sydney people actually present with.

Real AODTS NMDS 2023-24 per-PHN episode mix by principal substance of concern. Substance grouping: alcohol; cannabis; amphetamines + ecstasy + cocaine + other stimulants; opioids (heroin, methadone, buprenorphine, oxycodone, morphine, codeine, other); other (nicotine, sedatives, not stated).

AIHW AODTS NMDS 2023-24

Substance group	Share of episodes	Episodes / yr
Alcohol	58.7%	1,596
Cannabis	14.1%	384
Amphetamines / meth	18.2%	494
Opioids (Rx + heroin)	4.2%	114
Other (benzos, MDMA, polydrug)	4.9%	132

Data quality · what's real, what's not yet available

Episode counts + substance + treatment mix are from AIHW AODTS NMDS 2023-24 (real per-PHN). NOT published per-PHN by AIHW and intentionally omitted: risky-use prevalence (NDSHS national-only), 6.5% treatment-seeking assumption, derived service-gap math, AOD-related hospital separations per PHN, cohort-specific risky-use rates (youth, Indigenous, LGBTIQA+, CALD), per-LGA AOD data. The portal does not synthesise these — internal-data tier integrates direct AODTS extracts at unit-record level.

Methodology · sources

AODTS episodes — Real per-PHN AIHW AODTS NMDS 2023-24 release (abs_raw.aihw_phn_indicators). 28 PHNs have real data; TAS / NT / ACT use national-rate fallback. Northern Sydney at 3.8/1,000 adults vs national 11.6.
Substance mix — AIHW AODTS NMDS 2023-24 principal-drug-of-concern episode counts, real per-PHN. Substance categories collapsed from AIHW's 17 e2 detail categories into 5 displayable groups.
Treatment-type mix — AIHW AODTS NMDS 2023-24 treatment-type episode counts, real per-PHN (counselling, withdrawal management, pharmacotherapy, rehabilitation, assessment-only, support+case-management, information+education).
Not in this tool — risky-AOD-consumption prevalence (NDSHS is national-only); treatment-seeking rate (national-only); AOD-related hospital separations per-PHN; per-LGA AOD data; cohort risky-use rates per-PHN — all omitted because AIHW doesn't publish them at PHN level.

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