A NSW Government website
CheckApp

About Us

The Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) is part of NSW Health and is NSW and ACT’s dedicated data linkage provider. By securely linking information across many sources of data and different systems, such as hospitals, community and primary health services, and other government services and programs, we help use data to support better services, care and outcomes for the community.  

CHeReL delivers linkage services for: 

  • NSW Health 

  • ACT Health 

  • Other NSW Government agencies 

  • Approved researchers and research institutions 

  • Cross-jurisdictional and national projects 

 

We enable approved users to securely access linked data (where direct personal identifiers have been removed) for: 

  • Population health and human services research 

  • Service planning, monitoring and evaluation 

  • Policy development and system reform 

 

We provide secure, high-quality data linkage services to support a wide range of Australian Government agencies. By connecting data across sectors including health, human services, education and justice we enable a more complete understanding of population service needs and outcomes. 

The CHeReL is also part of the Population Health Research Network (PHRN), Australia’s national data linkage infrastructure supporting population health researchers. Through this network, we collaborate with linkage units across all jurisdictions to support cross-jurisdictional and national research. This enables large-scale studies that address complex issues spanning health and human service systems. A list of the other data linkage units across Australia can be found here.  

 

Our mission is to create and sustain a record linkage infrastructure for the health and human services sectors. CHeReL provides access to these resources to researchers, health planners and policy makers.  The aims of the CHeReL are to: 

  • facilitate research that may contribute to the promotion, protection and maintenance of public health; 

  • facilitate the planning, evaluation and delivery of health services; 

  • contribute to knowledge regarding research methods for government data collection, linkage of  data and presentation of health and human services statistics; and 

  • allow the activity outcomes to be available for the benefit of the public. 

The functions of the CHeReL are to: 

  • carry out linkage of health data while complying with all ethical, legal, privacy and confidentiality requirements; and 

  • provide a mechanism for access to these linked data in line with CHeReL’s aims. 

  • Protecting privacy is a core part of the CHeReL’s work. The CHeReL is part of NSW Health. Find more information here on how NSW Health keeps patient data safe and protects privacy.  

  • The CHeReL follows the separation principle. This means personal information, such as names and addresses, is kept separate from the health and service information used for research and analysis. Researchers do not receive names, addresses, or other direct identifiers.   

  • Data linkage is only carried out for approved projects and in accordance with strict legal, ethical, and governance requirements. Access to linked data is restricted to authorised staff, and researchers receive only the information needed to answer approved research, policy, or evaluation questions.   

  • The CHeReL has a range of safeguards in place to reduce privacy and security risks, including:   
    • following the Five Safes Framework, which is widely used across Australian Government agencies 
    • maintaining a strict separation between staff who work with identifying information and those who work with de-identified content data 
    • facilitating regular security reviews by NSW Health to make sure CHeReL’s systems remain secure and aligned with current cybersecurity practices 
    • conducting routine audits and role-specific staff training to support compliance with privacy and security requirements 
    • implementing strong legal and governance processes that ensure data is only linked or released when there is a lawful basis and the required approvals are in place 
    • ensuring de-identified linked data is released only to a secure data environment  

  • These safeguards allow CHeReL to link data securely while helping to maintain people’s privacy and confidentiality.  

  • The CHeReL takes the risk of a data breach very seriously. The Data Breach Policy outlines the minimum requirements and standards across NSW Health to ensure data breaches involving personal or health information are managed in compliance with the Mandatory Notification of Data Breach (MNDB) Scheme.  

  • A register of all public notifications made by the NSW Ministry of Health in the past 12 months for eligible data breaches involving the Ministry (which includes the CHeReL) is available here 

  • The NSW Information and Privacy Commission website has resources and fact sheets that can help assess whether there is a legal basis for data linkage. 

 

 

MAJOR PARTNERS
We pay respect to the Traditional Custodians and First Peoples of NSW, and acknowledge their continued connection to their country and culture.