Young and Female: Using linked data to profile service use explores characteristics of service use by young female clients from the Clients in Common dataset across the health and community services sector in Metropolitan Adelaide, and selected areas of South Australia. Analysing the Clients in Common dataset allows characteristics or trends in the types of services used by young females to be determined.

Comparisons with young male and total clients show young female clients to be over represented in relation to clients who are users of multiple services. Spatial clustering of clients, particularly those using multiple providers, or clients who are considered ‘at risk’, such as children and young people who are under the Guardianship of the Minister, homeless clients and those accessing housing assistance, resembles the distribution of disadvantage as captured by the ABS SEIFA Index of Relative Disadvantage.

Analysis by quintiles of socioeconomic disadvantage reinforces the link between these variables, highlighting that clients with the highest use of services, using multiple providers and receiving housing assistance are also over represented in the most disadvantaged quintiles of Metropolitan Adelaide. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were found to be over-represented in clients identified as homeless and/or receiving housing assistance. Over half of all young female clients had visited a public hospital accident and emergency department, making it the highest provider of services.

Analysis of Clients in Common demonstrates the capacity of a de-identified linked data set for investigating service provision. Key interventions aimed at understanding service use by females and assessing a variety of providers across disciplines, is integral to improving service accessibility, service pathways and service effectiveness.