Australia collects a wealth of high-quality information about its health care services, but the potential for this data to improve the health and wellbeing of its citizens is yet to be fully realised.
We are now at a turning point, with numerous developments that collectively have the potential to reform the landscape of Australian public data sharing and use for research. This presentation will preview these activities and some of the public benefit use cases for data sharing, including value-adding with researcher-initiated cohort and other studies.
Researcher access and use of linked health data can inform health practice and policy across the cancer control continuum, from cancer prevention to early diagnosis and guideline-based acute, survivorship and end-of-life care. It is also a vital tool for identifying inequities in cancer control for population subgroups.
We need continuing advocacy and ambition if we are to capitalise on the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia has fallen short internationally with respect to accessible, contemporary, whole-of-population and whole-of-health, national linked data to inform our public health responses including the care of people at risk of and living with cancer. We all have a role in advocating for streamlined researcher access and use of national health datasets of national significance.