National Children's Digital Health Collaborative

National Children's Digital Health Collaborative

In 2017, we partnered with eHealth NSW and the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network to use technology to support Australian children and young people. This collaboration was one of the first initiatives of Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy – Safe, Seamless and Secure.

Download the National Children's Digital Health Collaborative flyer (PDF, 1.7 MB)

Who is involved?

Bringing together Australia’s leading experts in children’s health, the initiative identifies strategic digital health projects for funding. Consumers, clinicians, health and social care providers, researchers and ICT industry partners form the collaboration.

What is our vision?

To harness the power of digital technology to make Australia the best place in the world to raise healthy children, and to ensure all Australian children – irrespective of location, socioeconomic status or cultural background – have the same opportunity to be healthy, safe and thriving.

What are the initiatives?

The collaborative is co-designing, implementing and evaluating a number of national proof-of-concept initiatives in support of children’s health and wellbeing.

• Child Data Hub

The Child Data Hub proof-of-concept forms the backbone of the Collaborative solution for the management of a shared, longitudinal digital health record for children and pregnant women. It is designed and built by NSW Health and will be hosted under NSW Health Legislation for the trial. It will transition to National Infrastructure and Commonwealth Legislation for national roll-out.

Download the Child Data Hub flyer (PDF, 787.79 KB)

• Child Digital Health Record (Baby Books)

Important health and development information about a child is currently stored in a paper book that parents need to keep safe. For example, in NSW parents have the Blue Book and in Queensland, it’s the Red Book. 

The Child Digital Health Record proof-of-concept is a digital version of a child’s baby book, enabling parents to securely store their child’s vital health information for access anywhere, any time.

Download the Child Digital Health Record flyer (PDF, 2.18 MB)

• Digital Pregnancy Health Record (Antenatal Record)

Pregnancy records are captured across multiple paper and electronic systems, which can also vary across providers as well as states and territories in Australia.

Often, important health information is double-entered into both paper records and digital systems, making it challenging for expectant mums and their healthcare providers to easily access relevant and complete health information.

The Digital Pregnancy Health Record (Antenatal Record) integrates multiple paper and electronic systems, creating a secure, digital record where vital health information can be shared between an expectant mum and her healthcare provider.

Download the Digital Pregnancy Health Record flyer (PDF, 1.84 MB)

• Child Digital Health Record

A child’s health data often stays with healthcare providers, making it difficult for parents, carers and other providers to access crucial information when they need it.

The Child Digital Health Record aims to co-design a set of high-value clinical data elements that can be routinely collected for Australian children aged between 5 and 14 years. 

When combined with the Child Digital Health Record, parents can have a complete view of a child’s healthcare journey from birth to the age of 14.

Download the Child Digital Health Record flyer (PDF, 1.59 MB)

• Research

Research will continue to underpin everything we do and, as a result, contribute to public health studies of the broader community.

These initiatives will help build a longitudinal Child Digital Health Record for all Australian children and young people, which will be rigorously evaluated by researchers to help build a business case for national roll-out.

National Steering Committee

The committee is responsible for overseeing the operations of the National Children’s Digital Health Collaborative and the implementation of five digital health initiatives, which have been approved and funded.

Learn more about the National Steering Committee.

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