eHealth NSW is working with Health Protection NSW to create a new platform to improve our statewide response to major public health threats.
The Signal program will review and re-design current practices across NSW Public Health Units and within Health Protection NSW to automate, standardise and streamline processes across the state.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed the need for greater surveillance and outbreak response capabilities to help NSW Health rapidly detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
Dr Kerry Chant AO PSM, Chief Health Officer and Deputy Secretary, Population and Public Health, said: “The Signal program is the most significant investment in the enhancement of our public health surveillance and outbreak response platform for NSW Health for well over a decade."
“Health Protection NSW is proud to partner with eHealth NSW in the design and delivery of this program and will continue to ensure the needs of the public health network, and the lessons learned from the COVID-19 response, are integrated into the delivery of the platform.”
What are the benefits?
The Signal program will enable:
- Improved outbreak surveillance ability
- Investigation of public health threats
- Access to data through appropriate gateways
- Collaboration within the public health network
- Public health action at scale through the production of rapid operational metrics to aid public health decision-making.
Signal will also connect to national data systems for notifiable conditions or diseases.
About Health Protection NSW
Health protection involves the prevention and control of threats to health from communicable diseases and the environment.
One of the core functions of health protection is to undertake statewide surveillance of notifiable conditions to trigger public health action.
A range of stakeholder groups are responsible for the management of notifiable diseases in NSW. Those with a central role include Health Protection NSW (HPNSW), Public Health Units (PHUs), and NSW Health Pathology. Other organisations including private pathology entities, the Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence (CEE) and the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) also play a role.
The news item above is included in our eHealth NSW July 2023 newsletter.
Download the July 2023 newsletter
