Closed cases

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Executive summary

One important indication of whether the service, as an evolving service, is beginning to meet the identified service need in community, is the proportion of cases 'closed' and the outcome of the casework intervention for the client.

Figure 19 provides a good representation of the distribution of closed cases across the Regions. Over the period 01/07/08 - 31/03/11 MOS Projects has had a total of 141 cases closed, with the largest proportion located in Top End (45.4%), followed by Katherine (25.5%) and Central Australia (22.7%)

Comparatively few closed cases were located in Barkly (6.4%), which is consistent with the small number of cases to have emerged from that Region overall.

There are no patterns evident in quarterly variation in the number of cases closed in each Region (see Figure 20).

Slightly fewer than half MOS Projects cases were closed as a result of the casework being concluded (41.8%) (see Figure 21). The next most commonly recorded reason for closing a case was that it had expired due to lack of activity in the previous three months, with one in five cases being closed for this reason (21.3%). A further one in six cases was closed because the client relocated (16.3%), or because MOS Projects services were declined (14.9%).

Figure 19: Proportion of cases closed by region, as a proportion of closed cases

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Text version of Figure 19

Proportion of cases closed by region, as a proportion of closed cases:

Top End - 45.4% (N = 64)
Katherine - 25.5% (N = 36)
Central Australia - 22.7% (N = 32)
Barkly - 6.4% (N = 9)

Figure 20: Change in number of closed cases by region over time

Text version of Figure 20

Figure 20 shows the change in the number of closed cases in each region receiving MOS Plus services for each quarter between 1 July 2008 and 31 March 2011.

The change in the number of closed cases in each region varies between the first quarter and the final quarter of the period, decreasing from 2 to zero in Barkly, increasing from 1 to 12 in Katherine, increasing from 5 to 12 in the Top End and increasing from zero to 10 in Central Australia.

With the exception of Barkly, all regions show a noticeable increase in the number of closed cases from the first quarter of 2010-11. Overall in the period, there was a total of 141 closed cases - 9 closed cases in the Barkly region, 32 in Central Australia, 36 in Katherine region and 64 in the Top End region.Top of page

Figure 21: Reasons for closure of case, as a percent of total cases

Text version of Figure 21

Reasons for closure of case, as a percent of total cases:

Casework concluded - 41.8% (N = 59)
Expired - 21.3% (N = 30)
Relocated - 16.3% (N = 23)
Service declined - 14.9% (N = 21)
Reached 18 years - 1.4% (N = 2)
Other - 4.3% (N = 6)
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