What is PRIMHD?
PRIMHD (pronounced ‘primed’) is a Ministry of Health single national mental health and addiction information collection of service activity and outcomes data for health consumers.
The data is collected from district health boards (DHBs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It is stored in the PRIMHD datamart which is part of the Ministry’s national data warehouse.
What is it for?
PRIMHD data is used to report on what services are being provided, who is providing the services, and what outcomes are being achieved for health consumers across New Zealand’s mental health sector. These reports enable better quality service planning and decision-making by mental health and addiction service providers, at the local, regional and national levels.
Who is involved in PRIMHD?
NGOs, DHBs, support organisations and the Ministry are involved in PRIMHD.
This website is designed to provide information to DHBs, NGOs and vendors who submit data to PRIMHD. It includes how PRIMHD works, what information PRIMHD produces, what is happening now and what is planned next.
Privacy protocol for collecting NHI and accessing data
The pamphlet What Happens to Your Mental Health and Addiction Information? provides details of how and why consumer information is collected by PRIMHD. It also looks at who uses the information, and the privacy rights of consumers under the Privacy Act 2020 (New Zealand Legislation website).
The pamphlet can be ordered or downloaded from What Happens to Your Mental Health and Addiction Information?
Start date
The start date for PRIMHD is 1 July 2008.
Earlier mental health data
Prior to PRIMHD, mental health data was collected in the MHINC collection and stored in the MHDW. The MHDW was started in July 2000. This data remains available for use in reporting and ad hoc queries run by the MoH Analytical Services team.
Guide to PRIMHD Supplementary Consumer Records Collection and Use
The purpose of this guide is to provide mental health and addiction services with a consistent methodology for the collection and use of the supplementary consumer records (SCRs) in PRIMHD from 1 July 2016. The SCR Guide is available from the Te Pou website.