Data & data items
The National Health Data Hub (NHDH) is an enduring linked data system that brings together the datasets outlined in Table 1.
The NHDH is a de-identified national linked data system supporting policy development, service delivery and community benefits (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Data in the National Health Data Hub
A diagram with 13 circles. The centre circle is NHDH. There is one circle connected which has 'access for all approved projects' called Demography data which contains all de-identified individuals and is marked as 'most recent'. The following are the other 11 circles around the central circle, representing those with 'access based on approval':
- 1997–2024: Aged Care Services data (national coverage)
- 2017–2024: National Disability Insurance Scheme data set (national coverage)
- 2010–2023: Australian Immunisation Register (national coverage)
- 2010–2024: Hospital data (NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, ACT, Tas)
- 2010–2024: Admitted patients (public | private – Vic, Qld, ACT)
- 2010–2024: Emergency department
- 2010–2024: Non-admitted patients
- 2010–2024: Medicare Benefits Schedule (national coverage)
- 1997–2024: National Death Index (national coverage)
- 2002–2024: Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme – including Repatriation (national coverage)
- 2017–2024: Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (national coverage).
| Datasets | States/territories included | Reference period |
|---|---|---|
| Admitted patient care data drawn from the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) – public hospitals (including chronic conditions) | NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas, ACT, SA NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas, ACT, SA (chronic conditions) | 2010–11 to 2023–24 2015–16 to 2023–24 2015–16 to 2022–23 |
| Admitted patient care data drawn from the NHMD – private hospitals (including chronic conditions) | Qld* Qld* (chronic conditions) ACT** ACT** (chronic conditions) Vic** Vic** (chronic conditions) | 2010–11 to 2023–24 2015–16 to 2023–24 2010–11 to 2018–19 2015–16 to 2018–19 2010–11 to 2016–17, 2021–22 to 2023-24 2015–16 to 2016–17, 2021–22 to 2023-24 |
| National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD)^ | NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas, ACT, SA | 2010–11 to 2022–23 |
| National Non-Admitted Patient episode-level Databases (NNAP(el)D) | Tas, ACT Vic, Qld NSW | 2013–14 to 2023–24 2016–17 to 2023–24 2017–18 to 2023-24 |
| Demography data | National (all states/territories) | Patients Demography: Updated as of December 2025 Medicare Consumer Directory Demography: Updated as of May 2025 |
| National Death Index (NDI) | National (all states/territories) | 1 July 1997 to 31 December 2024 |
| Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) | National (all states/territories) | 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2023 |
| National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse (NACDC) | National (all states/territories) | 1 July 1997 to 30 June 2024 (Home Care Program) 1 July 2001 to 1 April 2005 (Home and Community Care) 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2015 (Aged Care Assessment Program) 1 July 1997 to 30 June 2024 (Residential Aged Care) 1 July 2016–17 to 30 June 2023–24 (Commonwealth Home Support Programme) 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2024 (Transition Care Programme) 1 March 2017 to 30 June 2024 (Short-Term Restorative Care) 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2024 (National Screening and Assessment Form) |
| Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) | National (all states/territories) | 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2024 |
| Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) | National (all states/territories) | 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2024 |
| National Disability Insurance Scheme dataset (NDIS) | National (all states/territories) | Annually: 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2022 Quarterly: 30 September 2020 to 31 December 2024 |
| Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) | National (all states/territories) | Adult Patient Database (APD): 1 January 2017 to 1 September 2025 Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Intensive Care Registry (ANZPICR): 1 January 1997 to 1 September 2025 |
| National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) | National (all states/territories) | Bowel: 1 July 2006 to 31 May 2024 Cervical: 1 July 1996 to 30 June 2024 |
| National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) | National (all states/territories) | NDSS_registrant and NDSS_sales: 1 January 1987 to 31 October 2025 NDSS_events: 1 August 2021 to 31 October 2025 |
| Australian Cancer Database (ACD) | NSW, WA, Qld, ACT | 1 January 1982 to 2021 |
* Includes complete census of licensed private hospitals in Queensland. This includes private psychiatric hospitals.
** private hospital data for the ACT and Victoria includes some but not all private hospitals.
^ Only those emergency care service facilities in public hospitals that are classified as “emergency departments” are included in the NNAPEDCD. Facilities delivering “emergency services” are out of scope of the NNAPEDCD.
The National Health Data Hub (NHDH) also includes a demography dataset created by the AIHW based on information available from commonwealth, and state and territory data sources. The demography dataset includes confidentialised age, sex, and Indigenous status information for linked individuals across all datasets in the NHDH.
The NHDH is working with data custodians to include the following datasets in the future:
- National Community Mental Health Care Database
- National Residential Mental Health Care Database
- National Perinatal Data Collection
- Specialist Homelessness Services Collection
- Child Protection National Minimum Dataset
- Youth Justice National Minimum Data Set
- Housing data collections
- Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
- National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)
Data variable list
Data variable list for the NHDH (March 2026) [XLSX 899kB]
Data variable list for the NHDH (December 2025) [XLSX 785kB]
Data variable list for the NHDH (May 2025) [XLSX 601kB]
Data variable list for the NHDH (March 2025) [XLSX 750kB]
Data variable list for the NHDH (December 2024) [XLSX 565kB]