About NCHIRT
The National Centre for Health Information Research & Training (NCHIRT), (formerly known as the National Centre for Classification in Health, Brisbane (NCCH-Brisbane) is a research and development Centre affiliated of Queensland University of Technology's, School of Public Health and Social Work 
. Our Centre is dedicated to research, training and consulting activities with specific application to the quality and utility of routinely collected health data. Our work is supported by national competitive research grants, education and training courses and consulting projects.
NCHIRT has a solid and innovative research program around health information management systems, morbidity and mortality health data quality with a particular focus on injury and injury data surveillance systems, trauma data linkage, emergency health service demand issues. NCHIRT is committed to research training through the supervision of post-graduate research and undergraduate students from Australian universities and from Universities internationally.
Our multidisciplinary team have extensive industry experience in a diversity of health care settings with backgrounds in:
- health information management
- public health
- data statistics
- research
- teaching
- psychology
- nursing
- injury surveillance
- organisational development
- business management
- project management
- health informatics
The Centre has considerable experience in the development, maintenance, application and use of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification and the World Health Organization's, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD10) on which it is based.
Our staff has gained considerable insight into the practical needs of clinicians, health service providers, statistical agencies, researchers and epidemiologists and other end-users of health data, in terms of data collection, processing, coding, analysis and reporting and has an extensive and trusted network of collaborations spanning university-based research groups and educators, state and national governments, private, public and not-for-profit organisations and community groups. Through our work NCHIRT makes significant contributions to the quality and utility of health data collections and health information systems throughout the Australian health care system and internationally..
Our staff have also been involved in projects concerned with the evaluation, customisation, implementation, management and improvement to the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine and Clinical Terms (SCT), related authoring and tooling environments and integration technologies.
Our History
The Centre was established in 1992 to assist the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) in its role as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for the Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC) . As a member of the World Health Organization's Family of International Classifications Network much of the Centre's consultancy work is carried out at the request of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Regional and Country Offices and other non-governmental and philanthropic organisations. The Centre has a long history of collaboration with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) .
Following the establishment of a related Centre at the University of Sydney funded by Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) , a Joint Venture Agreement was signed between Queensland University of Technology and the University of Sydney
in relation to the operations of the National Centre for Classification in Health.
In early 2009, in conjunction with national reforms occurring in the health and hospital sector, the Department of Health and Ageing commissioned a review of its health classification systems. Plans were released to significantly increase activities to support the development of health information infrastructure for evidence-based decision making for health care and health service delivery. National strategies were sought to redress the significant shortfall in suitably qualified clinical classification and health information management personnel in the workforce, to support the needed reforms.
Against this background of national reform, a full strategic review of the Centre's business operations were undertaken. The aim of the review was to consider changes to current and future stakeholder requirements, assess core activities and staff capabilities and investigate all options for improving performance including strategies to capitalise on the opportunities inherent in government reform initiatives.
The review provided the Centre with an opportunity to streamline
operational performance and strengthen its position within the Queensland University of Technology's Network of Research Centres 
. NCHIRT's strategy was to provide a greater synergy between the Centre and Queensland University of Technology , it's School of Public Health and Social Work and the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) to enable the Centre to streamline its fundamental business processes and take full advantage of the University’s platform for cross-disciplinary interaction and collaboration on multidisciplinary research, education and training programs, consulting projects. The resulting management restructuring and renewed corporate vision necessitated rebranding of the Centre from the National Centre in Classification in Health-Brisbane to the National Centre for Health Information Research & Training (NCHIRT). In so doing, the Centre retains its reputation and acknowledged expertise in classification and terminology work, while creating a brand name that is more representative of the Centre's defined areas of activity within its broader scope of work.
The ‘new’ Centre's core business remains concerned with classification development and specialising in health information and public health research, consultation, and education and training.