Summary of the Project:

SIDR is an ongoing linked data repository that connects together health and non-health data for all young people (born >1990) in Western Australia. Datasets include births, deaths, hospital, emergency, perinatal, education, aedc, child protection, housing, disability, police, courts, and corrections datasets. The SIDR repository is updated on a yearly basis, now entering its fourth year. The resource is utilised by government agencies contributing their data and has recently been opened to researchers to apply and access.

Objectives of the Project:

SIDR seeks to improve access to data for researchers and policy analysts; prior to SIDR, non-health-linked data was not available for research or policy purposes.

How the project will test SeRP capabilities (why was SeRP chosen?):

SeRP data cataloguing capabilities are used throughout. Researchers are not provided files but access to the central database where they can directly query the data using their preferred analytical toolset. This criteria was especially important for our government customers who are used to a higher level of service and data management than the provision of text files that researchers are accustomed to. This also reduces the workload of the data manager and allows users to access the most up-to-date data.

The project also makes extensive use of the LinXmart linkage software (which is embedded within SeRP), including both its enduring linkage functionality and its privacy-preserving linkage functionality. The linkage of non-health data to health data occurs using this software.