Indigenous identification in hospital separations data Appendix B.4: Patient information brochure Hospitals Data Quality Study The information you gave us helps us check if hospital records contain the correct information. Accurate hospital records are needed to improve health care in Australia. What happens to the information you have given us? We will compare the information given by everyone who takes part in the study with their information in the hospital information system. This will help us to see how accurate hospital information is in Australia. We will use this information to write a report to help hospitals improve the accuracy of their information, and help decision makers to plan and deliver better health services for Australians. The information that is collected in hospitals helps governments and the community to make decisions about health services for Australians as a whole and for particular groups of people. Reliable and accurate hospital information is used to make sure that health programs are provided for people when and where they are needed and that Australians are getting good value for money. For example, hospital information could be used to give a reason for a national program to improve the health of a particular group of people (such as older Australian men or young children). It’s easy to make mistakes. A study in 2007 found that nearly 10% of hospital demographic data contained same incorrect information. Mistakes in hospital information can mislead governments and medical researchers, and lead to health services and programs that don’t meet our health needs. The AIHW is committed to protecting your privacy—and we cannot be forced to disclose private information, even by a court of law. The hospital record number, not your name, will be used to match your interview information with your hospital information. In fact, your name has not been recorded at any stage of the interview process. On behalf of the AIHW, we again thank you for your time and input. What is the AIHW? The AIHW, or Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, is a major national agency set up by the Australian Government to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia’s health and welfare. Our aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians through better health and welfare information and statistics. We collect and report information on a wide range of health matters such as: the number of people who have cancer or diabetes; the general health of the community; hospital services and waiting times; what Australia spends on health; and the numbers of doctors, nurses and other health professionals in Australia. More information? Please contact: Fadwa Al-Yaman Head, Social and Indigenous Group Australia Institute of Health and Welfare GPO Box 570 Canberra ACT 2601 Phone: 02 6244 1146 Web: www.aihw.gov.au Your answers will help improve health services in Australia Abbreviations ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics AIHW Australian Institute of Health and Welfare FaHCSIA Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs WHO World Health Organization Symbols — nil or rounded to zero . . not applicable n.a. not available n.p. not publishable because of small numbers, confidentiality or other concerns about the quality of the data [These lists are created using tables with no borders, with the text formatted using the ‘AIHW body text in table’ style. To add more abbreviations or symbols, simply click in the table and insert further table rows. You can adjust the width of the left-hand column to include a long acronym. Use ‘Table Tools>Layout>View Gridlines’ to show or hide the table gridlines.] Summary [Refer to Writing for the AIHW: a style guide for tips on writing your summary. The standard length of a summary is one page.] 1 Introduction Glossary [Use the ‘Glossary entry’ and ‘Glossary definition’ styles when you create a glossary. It is easiest if you first type both the entry and definition using the ‘Glossary definition’ style, and then select and apply the ‘Glossary entry’ style as needed to the entries. The text below is an example only. You can also format your glossary using ‘Heading 5’ and ‘AIHW body text’.] Aboriginal: A person of Aboriginal descent who identifies as an Aboriginal and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives. benchmarking: A continuous process of measuring quality or performance against the highest standards. See also benchmark. perinatal: Pertaining to or occurring in the period shortly before or after birth (usually up to 28 days after). References [The reference list is best created using EndNote. In January 2011 the AIHW upgraded to EndNote X4. In Word 2010, you can access EndNote using the ‘EndNote X4’ tab. You can find information about using EndNote on the AIHW intranet. For any problems, please contact the Publishing team.] List of tables [Insert using the ‘References>Insert table of figures’ function.] List of figures [Insert using the ‘References>Insert table of figures’ function.] Related publications [You can include a ‘Related publications’ section in your report to alert readers to the presence of other AIHW reports and web products which may be of relevance. These might include previous reports in the same series, related internet-only material or reports that deal with similar subject matter. The text below is an example only.] This report, Juvenile justice in Australia 2007–08, is part of an annual series. The four earlier editions and any published subsequently can be downloaded for free from the AIHW website . The website also includes information on ordering printed copies. Interim tables relating to this report were published separately online as Juvenile justice in Australia 2008-09: Interim report - main tables. See . The following AIHW publications relating to children, youth and families might also be of interest: • AIHW 2011. Educational outcomes of children under guardianship or custody orders: a pilot study, stage 2. Child welfare series no. 49. Cat. no. CWS 37. Canberra: AIHW. • AIHW 2011. Child protection Australia 2009–10. Child welfare series no. 51. Cat. no. CWS 39. Canberra: AIHW. • AIHW 2010. Health and wellbeing of young Australians: indicator framework and key national indicators. Bulletin no. 77. Cat. no. AUS 123. Canberra: AIHW. iv 6 5