Chair’s report
The Honourable Nicola Roxon
September 2024 marks my one-year anniversary as Chair of the AIHW Board. It has been a year of many changes both within the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and across the health and welfare data landscape.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of health data is ever-more prominent and visible. A current picture of the health and welfare of Australians is important when developing health policy and planning health services.
To get this clear picture of Australia’s health, we depend on data.
Accurate, comparable, and comprehensive data enable authorities to identify health trends, assess the effectiveness of existing programs, allocate resources efficiently and develop targeted strategies for improving health outcomes. Moreover, such data can facilitate early intervention, preventive measures, and better-informed patient care, ultimately contributing to the overall wellbeing and quality of life for the population.
There are growing requirements for greater access to complex and sensitive datasets, increasingly ‘networked’ data integration through multi-organisation projects, and the ability to access data from more sources and from a greater variety of systems. Demand continues for more enduring data linkages to answer complex cross-sector and cross- jurisdictional health questions.
One such enduring linkage system is the National Health Data Hub (NHDH). Launched in May 2024, the NHDH is a major national data linkage system for health research and analysis. No other collection routinely brings together the core data (including hospitals data, the National Death Index, Australian Immunisation Register, aged care data, Medicare Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) that the NHDH does, nor delivers such a vast range of insights for health and aged care policy and research. This more complete picture provides authoritative evidence to support better policy and service delivery decisions to improve Australia’s health and welfare.
Efforts are being made to reduce data gaps in Family Domestic and Sexual Violence (FDSV) data and reporting by improving the availability of data on specialist FDSV services and developing nationally linked data. In partnership with the Department of Social Services, the AIHW has established cross-jurisdictional governance arrangements for the pilot collection. Consultation with relevant data custodians and data governance experts is ongoing. To complement this ongoing development work, the AIHW is also undertaking several analysis activities which aim to provide new evidence about people experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence and methodological learnings for the integrated data system.
The AIHW Board continues to explore new opportunities to move towards a truly national data linkage system that supports efficient, safe, legal, and ethical linkage to support policy analysis and research.
The board continues to be attentive to our stakeholders’ ongoing needs to ensure our work continues to make an impact in decision making. Our focus on taking steps to improve AIHW Ethics Committee project approval timeframes has been successful, with approvals up 25% on last year.
In January 2024, the Australian Government released the 2030 Data and Digital Government Strategy, designed to act as a unified blueprint for how government will deliver simple, secure and connected public services to people and businesses through world-class data and digital capabilities.
To address the need to rapidly enhance its digital capabilities, the AIHW developed and approved a cyber security strategy for 2023–2025. The strategy paves the way for the delivery of contemporary systems and software that support best practice in the protection, use, management, and sharing of data.
In May 2024, following a competitive selection process, the Australian Government appointed Dr Zoran Bolevich to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the AIHW. Dr Bolevich brings a wealth of experience in effective use of digital technologies, data analytics, research, and innovation to improve the health system. He was previously the Chief Executive of eHealth New South Wales and the Chief Information Officer for NSW Health. He has been a member of the AIHW Board since 2016. I look forward to Dr Bolevich’s fresh perspective as we work together to meet new challenges and unlock new opportunities, further strengthening our role as the authoritative source of health and welfare information in Australia.
I would like to thank the former CEO, Rob Heferen, for his exemplary work during his tenure at the AIHW. We did not work together long, but he left behind an institute that is high-performing and extremely committed to the important work it produces. His contributions will be felt for many years to come. I would also like to thank Matthew James for his time and hard work as acting CEO.
On behalf of the board, I extend my gratitude to the institute’s staff for their dedication, expertise and valued contribution to the institute’s achievements this year.
Thank you for your continued support as we strive to report on and improve the health and welfare of all Australians.