National Health Services Directory Data you can count on

The NHSD is a free and open, national directory of health services and the practitioners that provide them. The NHSD aggregates key data sets across the health sector to publish a complete, accurate and up-to-date view of health service information.

High quality data

The NHSD provides greater than 99% coverage & completeness for essential services (GP, Hospital, Pharmacy, Emergency Departments) which together account for over 80% of all queries to the NHSD.

Service records are guaranteed to provide standardised core details to align with a minimum national data set:

• Practice name, street address, and geocode location data.

• Contact details, including email, website, phone, fax number.

• Payment & billing options. • Appointment requirements.

• Opening hours, including availability during the after-hours period & public holidays.

• Eligibility criteria where appropriate, e.g. women’s services, aged over 55.

• The name and relevant specialties of the practitioner.

• Practitioner gender and languages spoken.

• Identifiers for secure messaging. • Referral details.

How do we know we have quality data?

The NHSD is improving the way we operate. Where possible, we are replacing the reliance on direct authorship to a model of management built upon systematic notification of change. This will reduce the overhead on individual service providers, and dramatically increase the timeliness, accuracy & consistency of the data.

As a data custodian of national significance, the NHSD is synchronised with verified systems of record, via:

Where necessary, data is directly validated with service providers to ensure minimum data quality standards. The NHSD Content Team monitor & forecast changes to the quality score of records on a weekly basis. Email campaigns are run at regular intervals to verify the currency of information. Providers that cannot be contacted by email are contacted by phone to update or confirm their details. If the NHSD Content Team are unable to confirm key details the record is deactivated.

Data governance

Responsibility for NHSD data policy, quality metrics and operational oversight is provided by the NHSD Data Governance Committee. The committee comprises representatives from the Australian Digital Health Agency, State and Territory Health departments, Primary Health Networks and Allied Health Professions Australia.

Data sharing agreements with regulatory bodies, and major public and private institutions enable us to exchange large data sets.

Alignment with national identifiers (i.e. AHPRA registration numbers, Medicare provider numbers, ABN

and/or HPI-O).

Flexible data access, free to use

Currently integrated with over 100 health sector organisations and systems across Australia generating on average 350,000 search transactions every day, the NHSD is enabling service providers and consumers to navigate the health sector faster, safer and more reliably.

With our range of APIs, widgets and data extracts, the NHSD makes it simple for you to access and utilise over 400,000 service and practitioner records within your systems and services. Supported by Australian governments, access is free for registered users.

Trusted and secure

As a service supporting critical government and national infrastructure, the directory meets privacy legislation requirements and government standards for health services. To view the National Health Services Directory privacy statement, visit: www.nhsd.com.au/privacy

Delivered by Healthdirect Australia

The National Health Services Directory is delivered by Healthdirect Australia a national, government-owned, not-for-profit organisation. Healthdirect Australia designs and delivers innovative services for

governments to provide every Australian with access to trusted information and the advice they need to manage their own health and related issues. Our services operate 24/7 and allow

people to talk to a health professional, find trusted advice online, and locate health services.

For more information, visit: www.healthdirect.gov.au/about-us

Compliant API As an active participant in both the Patient Administration and Provider Directory technical working groups, the NHSD is helping to shape the FHIR standard to enable greater interoperability across the Australian health sector.

Consumer API To support key use cases, the NHSD makes available a targeted API for developers of consumer-focussed applications. Data can be returned in .json format and easily integrated and styled to suit your web applications.

Widgets

Built using responsive design and easily customisable, the NHSD search widgets support integrations where technical resources are limited. The simple JavaScript snippet can easily be deployed to any webpage or mobile app.

Data Extracts

Authorised partner organisations can obtain data in .xml and other formats to support local caching and utilisation of the data. The NHSD extracts are refreshed regularly to ensure the most up to date information is made available.

Supporting Integrated Care

The National Health Services Directory supports integrated care by providing free and open access to reliable health service information to support a patient’s movements across the Australian health sector.

Consumers The NHSD supplies data to over 80 websites and applications nationally, delivering over 1,000,000 search results a month, the NHSD is a necessary resource to help consumers find access to healthcare services.

Providers Integration with clinical information system (both private and public) helps providers managing referrals and care co-ordination. The NHSD currently supports over 20,000 secure messages sent per week in the Northern Territory and Victoria.

Needs Assessors, Researchers and Planners The National Health Services Directory supports organisations undertaking care needs assessment or health sector research by providing open access to reliable health service location and demographic information.

Contact us

For more information on how to access the NHSD visit www.nhsd.com.au.