Print version

 

 

The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Support (NCRIS) received twenty million dollars from the Australian Government in 2006 to establish the Population Health Research Network (PHRN). This initiative will develop research infrastructure that ultimately aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians, as well as enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of health services.

Australia has comprehensive and high quality population health data. By linking existing health data, valuable information can be drawn cost effectively without the intrusion of additional data collection. The PHRN will deliver a major expansion of linked health and human services data within and across the Australian states. Each state node will develop and operate services linking systems and resources nationwide.

 

Within Queensland, the PHRN is represented by the Queensland Centre for Health Data Services (QCHDS) and the Research Linkage Group (RLG). This initiative is a collaboration between the University of Queensland, Griffith University, the Queensland University of Technology, James Cook University, the University of the Sunshine Coast, CSIRO Australian e-Health Research Centre, and the State Government of Queensland. The centre is managed by a committee comprised of members from each of the collaborating partners.

Established in 2009, QCHDS is based within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Queensland. QCHDS will participate in the national collaboration of data linkage, liaise with data custodians and organisations, facilitate access to linked datasets, provide a secure data exchange portal, and initiate capacity building in data linkage research.

Working closely with the RLG, QCHDS will be developing the infrastructure for linking datasets and ensuring high quality data linkage. The RLG is based within the Health Statistics Centre, Queensland Health. Partnership between both centres will ensure innovative research and development using state and national health datasets.

 

 

QCHDS and the RLG will protect privacy of linked data by using a broken chain of information. QCHDS will liaise with data custodians who will provide demographic information without any health service data to the RLG for linkage. A unique key will then be supplied by RLG. This key is attached to the health service data before being handed through QCHDS to the researcher. The researcher now has access to linked data without receiving any of the identifying demographic information.