The WA Data Linkage System, technology used to assist medical research and patient management, has received a big boost with a state government grant of more than $2 million.
Professor D'Arcy Holman, from the University of Western Australia, said the grant was a big boost for WA's position as a leader in medical research.
Professor Holman, the Chief Investigator of the data linkage research project said the success of a new data collection system set up in Perth ten years ago by staff from three major research institutions would continue to build the standing of health and medical research in WA.
Tomorrow, Professor Holman will explain how data linkage works and Dr Simon Towler, the WA Department of Health's Director of Health Policy and Clinical Reform, will outline how the Data Linkage system has revolutionised some aspects of patient care in WA hospitals.
The WA Data Linkage System was developed by a coalition of researchers from The University of Western Australia, Curtin University of Technology, The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the WA Department of Health.
It has already provided the basis for new discoveries that have led to community benefits through new understanding of many medical and surgical issues and procedures including deep vein thrombosis, improved surgical techniques, improved practices in hospital emergency departments, prevention of medication clashes in elderly people and physical illness among people with mental health conditions.
