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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. 

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