Local Health Districts (LHDs) are health administrative areas constituted under Section 17 of the NSW Health Services Act, 1997 which became effective from January 2011 and were initially called Local Health Networks.

There are 15 geographically-based LHDs (8 covering the Sydney metropolitan region and 7 rural and regional NSW) and two specialist networks focussing on Children's and Paediatric Services and Forensic Mental Health. A third network operates across the public health services provided by three Sydney facilities operated by St Vincent's Health: these include St Vincent's Hospital and the Sacred Heart Hospice at Darlinghurst and St Joseph’s at Auburn.

LHDs replaced the former Area Health Services and have their own budgets, management and accountabilities. Geographically-based LHDs are overseen by Governing Boards. Please refer to the NSW Health website for a list of Local Health Districts and the membership of Boards.  

Local Health Districts are:

Metropolitan NSW: Central Coast, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Nepean Blue Mountains, Northern Sydney, South Eastern Sydney, South Western Sydney, Sydney, Western Sydney.

Rural & regional NSW:  Far West, Hunter New England, Mid North Coast, Murrumbidgee, Northern NSW, Southern NSW, Western NSW

Methods used to adjust estimates for rare conditions analysed by Local Health District in this report

The term ‘small area’ refers to a small geographical area or a small population. Data analysed for small areas may result in estimates that display considerable variability from year to year, particularly for rare conditions or events. Smoothing is a general term for statistical methods used to reduce the random variability of data. Examples include rounding, moving averages, extending the period of time in which cases are counted or increasing the size of the areas. In addition, Bayesian statistical smoothing can be used to adjust raw estimates in small areas by taking into account information from adjacent areas (local or spatial variability) and from the whole state (global or non-spatial variability).

In this report, extending the period of time, in which cases in the Local Health Districts are counted, was the most frequently used smoothing technique. Results for some Local Health Districts were completely suppressed in some indicators due to very low numbers and privacy concerns.  Please refer to Notes under the graphs or Methods tabs for confirmation of suppression and the smoothing technique used.

References

NSW Health. Home page. Last updated 1 July 2011. Available at http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/services/pages/default.aspx

Death (or mortality) statistics

Death certification in Australia

In order to complete a death registration in Australia, the death must be certified by either a doctor using the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, or by a coroner. Natural causes are predominantly certified by doctors, whereas External and Unknown causes or unaccompanied deaths are usually certified by a Coroner. Approximately 85-90% of deaths each year are certified by a doctor and the remainder is reported to a Coroner. The death is registered in the state in which the death occurred, rather than the state in which the person resides. The Australian Cause of Death Statistics System is outlined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/47E19CA15036B04BCA2577570014668B?opendocument.

Causes of death revision process

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have implemented a revision process for Coroner certified deaths. Data are deemed preliminary when published for the first time, revised when published the following year and final when published two years after initial publication. This revision process, and the impact on specific causes are described at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3303.0Explanatory%20Notes12015?OpenDocument .

Causes of death in NSW

The Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes two publications every year: Deaths, Australia (Catalogue Number 3302.0) in November, eleven months after the end of the concerned year and Causes of death, Australia (Catalogue Number 3303.0), in March, fifteen months after the end of the year concerned.

The Australian Coordinating Registry

The Australian Coordinating Registry (ACR) is an agency appointed coordinate access to coded cause of death unit record data on behalf of the Registrars of Births Deaths and Marriages in each state or territory as well as the Australian Bureau of Statistics and National Coronial Information System. The coordinating registry undertakes the coordination and management of the designated activity. The underlying legal responsibility is retained by the collective Registrars.

The ACR provides the NSW Ministry of Health with a national cause of death unit record file to allow detailed anaylsis of deaths data.

Apparent differences between figures published by the ABS and the NSW Ministry of Health

Death count by year of registration and by year of occurrence.

There is usually an interval between the occurrence and registration of a death which is related to the time of year or whether a death is refered to a Coroner. The registration of deaths which occur in November and December are likely to be delayed until the following year, for example, of all deaths in NSW registered in 2013, 6.9% occurred in 2012 or earlier (ABS 3302.0).

Deaths data reported by the ABS for the latest year are based on the year of registration therefore do not include deaths which occurred in that year but where registration was delayed. Deaths data reported in HealthStats NSW are based on the year of occurrence of the death. Estimates of missing deaths for the latest year due to delayed registration (ie due to time of year or Coronial cases) are imputed for each cause and included in the count for the reports in HealthStats NSW. A small percentage of death registrations may be delayed for more than one year. All deaths figures are updated historically (eg in trends) in this report when new data becomes available.

Different population projection data

For the calculation of rates, the NSW Ministry of Health uses population projection estimates from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. The estimated residential populations which are not projected are the same as those published by the ABS and are currently based on the 2016 Census. See Methods associated with indicators in topics Demography (or Population) for further discussion of population estimates.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Deaths, Australia, latest year. 3302.0. Canberra: ABS, . Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3302.0

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Causes of Deaths, Australia, latest year. 3303.0. Canberra: ABS, . Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3303.0

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Multiple Cause of Deaths, Australia, 1997-2001. 3319.0.55.001. Canberra: ABS, . Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3319.0.55.001

Potentially Avoidable Deaths (PAD) are based on National Healthcare Agreement: PI 16-Potentially avoidable deaths

Potentially avoidable deaths are those attributed to onditions that are potentially preventable through individualised care and/or treatable through existing primary or hospital care and which occur before age 75 years.