Emergency department patient data must be recorded in approved Patient Administration Systems (PAS) in an accurate and timely manner so that the data are available and can be accessed for inclusion into the Emergency Department Data Collection (EDDC).

The Emergency Department Data Collection (EDDC) contains data on emergency department activity in Western Australia's public hospitals, as well emergency department activity from private hospitals under contract with the WA Government. In addition to data specifically related to episodes of care in emergency departments (e.g. triage category, presentation date and time), the collection also includes demographic data and data required under the Australian Health Care Agreement (e.g. whether an interpreter service was required).

Whilst the core EDDC related fields are regularly reviewed for the national NMDS, some quality issues may exist with other items such as country of birth etc.

This dataset is linked routinely. The time lag for finalised linked data available for researchers is 2 months.

The purpose of the Emergency Department Data Collection Data Specifications is to outline the requirements for Health Service Providers and Contracted Health Entities to report emergency department patient activity to the Department of Health.

Western Australia state data

Health Services Act 2016