Clinical Quality Registries
Clinical Quality Registries (CQRs) make a unique contribution to the Australian health system. They collect, analyse and report information about the care and outcomes being delivered by health service organisations.
What are Clinical Quality Registries?
Clinical registries are databases that collect health-related information on individuals who are treated, diagnosed or managed for a specific condition.
For example, a clinical registry may collect information on patients receiving a joint replacement or diagnosed with stroke.
Clinical Quality Registries (CQRs) monitor and provide feedback on the quality of patient care and outcomes in relation to a specific data set, such as data on joint replacements or stroke patients.
Australian CQR Framework
The Australian Framework for National Clinical Quality Registries provides guidance and principles on how CQRs should operate, in relation to:
- establishing and maintaining appropriate governance and operational arrangements
- ensuring data quality
- identifying outliers and unwarranted variation in healthcare, and
- feedback and reporting to inform a learning health system.
The CQR Framework aligns with the Australian Government’s National Strategy for Clinical Quality Registries and Virtual Registries.
Fact sheets and guidance to support implementation of the CQR Framework
- Australian Framework for National Clinical Quality Registries 2024
- Fast Facts
- Fact sheet for CQR operators
- Fact sheet for clinicians
- Fact sheet for health service organisations
CQRs in a learning health system
A defining feature of CQRs is that they provide clinicians and healthcare systems with feedback on their clinical results. The mechanisms and operational details of the feedback process vary depending on factors such as the nature of the information collected, the preferences of participants, and the maturity of the CQR. Feedback should include detailed information about the causes of variation and outlying performance, enabling clinicians to recognise best practice or correct sub-optimal practices where appropriate.
Australian Register of Clinical Registries
The Australian Register of Clinical Registries (the ARCR) facilitates collaboration and awareness of registry activity among key stakeholders.
The ARCR is voluntary and contains a list of self-nominated registries. You can use this information to see what registries already exist and find opportunities to collaborate with health professionals and researchers.
You can use our online submission form to list a clinical registry on the ARCR.
Prioritised list of clinical domains
The prioritised list of clinical domains is currently under review. Register your interest to receive updates about our work in Clinical Quality Registries.
Clinical Quality Registries Advisory Group
Our Clinical Quality Registries Advisory Group includes members with relevant expertise and experience in the Clinical Quality Registry sector.
The role of the Advisory Group is to provide high-level guidance and advice on our Clinical Quality Registries projects.
The Advisory Group is currently active.
Advisory Group details
| Member name | Role title and organisation | Committee contribution | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distinguished Professor Sandy Middleton | Director, Nursing Research Institute, St Vincent’s Health Network Sydney, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and Australian Catholic University | Chair | National |
| Ms Bernice Cropper | Head, Health Systems Group, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) | AIHW representative | National |
| Ms Chereta Daylight | Director, Policy Development, Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) | IHACPA representative | National |
| Mr Chris Boyd Skinner | Assistant Director Clinical Governance, Clinical Governance and Assurance Branch, Policy, Programs and Engagement Division, Australian Digital Health Agency | Australian Digital Health Agency representative | National |
| Dr David Gill | Assistant Deputy, Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR) | CQR representative | National |
| Professor David Pilcher | Chairman, Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) Centre for Outcome and Resource Evaluation (CORE) | CQR representative | National |
| Ms Di O'Kane | Director, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Service, Clinical Excellence Division, Queensland Health | Jurisdictional representative | Queensland |
| Dr Elizabeth Webber | Department of Health, Tasmania | Jurisdictional representative | Tasmania |
| Ms Fiona Wake | Executive Director, Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety, Commissioning and System Improvement, Northern Territory Health | Jurisdictional representative | Northern Territory |
| Dr Heather Buchan | Senior Medical Advisor, the Commission | Commission representative | National |
| Ms Helen Mees | Consumer advocate | Consumer representative | Western Australia |
| Dr Isuru Ranasinghe | Senior Cardiologist, Department of Cardiology, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane Associate Professor in Cardiology, Northside Clinical Unit, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland | CQR representative | Queensland |
| Professor John Beltrame AM | Chair, CADOSA Registry; Professor of Medicine - Michell Chair, Adelaide Medical School | CQR representative Clinician representative | South Australia |
| Dr Jui Tham | Medical Officer, Strategy and Development, Australian Health Service Alliance | Private health insurance sector representative | National |
| Ms Linda Brown | Director, Translational Research, Clinical Trials, Strategic Projects and Response, Clinical and Professional Leadership Unit, Safer Care Victoria | Jurisdictional representative | Victoria |
| Ms Maureen Woodward | Consumer advocate | Consumer representative | Queensland |
| Ms Melissa Tinsley | Associate Director, IDEA (Integrated Digital Enablement Accelerator), Agency for Clinical Innovation | Jurisdictional representative | New South Wales |
| Ms Nicola Ware | CEO, Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation; Head of Research, Innovation and Integrated Care, Ramsay Health Care | Private hospital sector representative | National |
| Dr Nisha Antony | Senior Medical Advisor, Healthcare Quality Intelligence Unit, Clinical Excellence Division, Department of Health, Western Australia | Jurisdictional representative | Western Australia |
| Professor Stephen McDonald | Executive Officer, Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplantation (ANZDATA) Registry Director, Adelaide Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, University of Adelaide and Senior Staff Nephrologist, Royal Adelaide Hospital | CQR representative Clinician representative | National |
| Professor Susannah Ahern | Chair, Australian Breast Device and Australasian Pelvic Floor Procedure Registry (APFPR) Head, Clinical Outcomes Reporting and Research, Monash University | CQR representative | Victoria |
| Ms Terrie O'Brien | Director, Clinical Quality Registries Section, Health Modelling Partnerships and Evaluation Branch, Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing representative | National |
| Ms Tina Hardin | Executive Director, Clinical Informatics, Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health, SA Health | Jurisdictional representative | South Australia |
| Ms Tracey Duffy | First Assistant Secretary, Medical Devices and Product Quality Division, Therapeutic Goods Administration | Therapeutic Goods Administration representative | National |
Contact
If you would like to learn about the development of the CQR Framework, including legislative and economic reviews, please contact our team. You can also register your interest to receive updates about the Commission’s work on CQRs.