A new study by WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) demonstrates the potential of general practice data to provide insights into Australians’ health and contribute to a stronger national picture of value of primary care to the system, providers, patients and the economy.
WAPHA, the operator of Western Australia’s three Primary Health Networks (PHNs), worked with AIHW to explore de-identified unit record patient data from general practices across the state. Using data from 2017–2024, the study examined the health and care of people living with mental health conditions.
The findings highlight the close relationship between mental and physical health and the complexity of care provided in general practice. People living with a mental health condition were more likely to have a physical health condition, health risks and attend general practice more frequently than people without these conditions, according to 2023–24 data.
WAPHA CEO Bernadette Kenny said the study showed the value of general practice data in building a better understanding of Australians’ health, including the close connection between mental and physical health.
“GPs are specialists in providing comprehensive, lifelong care, often supporting people with complex and interconnected mental and physical health needs over many years, “ Mrs Kenny said.
“PHNs bring specialist expertise in general practice data, alongside their understanding of primary care and relationships with practices. Combining that expertise with AIHW’s national data and analytical capability gives us an opportunity to build a stronger national picture of the impact of primary care to inform future health policy decisions.”
AIHW CEO Dr Zoran Bolevich said it had been a pleasure to work successfully with WAPHA and its general practice communities on a project of mutual benefit.
“The study has shown that de-identified general practice data can fill important gaps in national health reporting by providing more current and detailed information for some conditions than available elsewhere,” Dr Bolevich said.
“The data have also provided prevalence and burden-of-disease information not presently covered by other data sources.”
The study forms part of a proof-of-concept project exploring the potential of de-identified general practice data to support the development of a national primary health care data collection. The project demonstrated that de-identified unit record level data can be shared securely through appropriate governance and data custodianship arrangements, while also providing learnings about data quality and the technical and analytical platforms required.
WAPHA leads Primary Health Insights (PHI) and Primary Sense on behalf of participating PHNs. Primary Sense enables the extraction of de-identified data from participating general practices and supports clinical decision-making and population health insights. PHI allows PHNs to work together with each other and the AIHW on de-identified general practice data in a secure environment to support population health analysis, policy and research.
Together with PHNs’ specialist knowledge of general practice data and AIHW’s national data and analytical expertise, these shared capabilities provide a foundation for building a stronger national picture of primary care.