Whatever the gains that have been achieved in Australia’s health, there will always
be room for improvement and lots more to find out about. Information activities the
AIHW is working on include:
- Several large-scale projects that draw together several data sources to show how
older people (including those with dementia) interact with a variety of health
services over time.
- Expanding the MyHospitals website to include information about cancer treatment
services and cancer surgery waiting times; and continually updating MyHospitals
data as they become available.
- Using data from the new national registration systems for health professionals to
better report on the health workforce, particularly smaller professions.
- A 2012 Prisoner Health Census that will capture, for the first time, information about
the health of prisoners as they are released, allowing us to compare the health
status of this group with that of prison entrants.
- Developing a national minimum data set on public dental waiting times that will
support the collection of data for a previously unreported performance indicator in
the National Healthcare Agreement.
- Working with the Department of Health and Ageing and other health departments
to develop key performance indicators on Indigenous primary health care services
that receive government funding. This will allow analysis of service activities and
their relationship to health outcomes, underpinning efforts to close the gap.