Collaborating Institutions

The Department of Health is proud to work alongside our collaborating institutions to continually grow and improve the products and data available through Data Linkage Services for the benefit of our community.

Western Australia has a long history of data linkage activities for medical research and health service planning. As part of a collaborative project, the Department of Health, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, and Telethon Kids Institute in 1995 developed an internationally recognised data linkage infrastructure in Western Australia.

From modest beginnings of a linkage key to local health datasets, to now encompassing links to national and local health and welfare datasets, genealogical links and spatial references for mapping applications, the Western Australian Data Linkage System (WADLS) is widely recognised as the largest data linkage system in Australia, and Data Linkage Services at the Department of Health is an established member of the national Population Health Research Network (PHRN).