The National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA) is a partnership between Peninsula Health and Monash University, funded by the Australian Federal Government. A major component of the NCHA is the development and implementation of a health data and implementation platform involving routinely collected Peninsula Health data. Since the introduction of electronic health records, health services and researchers have been grappling with how to efficiently utilise the vast amount of data that is being collected within health systems to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

The Data and Implementation Platform working group has representation from Monash University and Peninsula Health and functions as a cohesive and collaborative group to oversee the implementation and operational aspects of the Data Platform. The purpose of the group is to ensure core objectives are met resulting in the establishment of a linked Electronic Health Record (EHR) data platform that will make better use of existing data.

The NCHA data platform will facilitate access to research data in a safe environment, overcoming traditional barriers to health data access.  It will make research programs more efficient by dramatically reducing the time required to collect data from hospital systems and consumers. Data will be held in a secure research environment and researchers will access the data via a specialised browser after ethics review and approval of the project. The platform will underpin transformative research and translation in health service and aged care innovation that will be scaled to deliver impact at a local, state and national level.