About the Queensland RHD Register
What are the benefits of the Register?
- Centralised patient information from primary, secondary and tertiary health services.
- Prompts for healthcare providers to follow-up patients who are due or overdue for treatment or review.
- Facilitates sharing of information including the transfer of patient information between healthcare services.
- Improves visibility of ARF and RHD disease burden and health service requirements in Queensland.
How is a patient added to the Register?
- ARF and RHD are notifiable conditions in Queensland under the Public Health Act 2005.
- Diagnosing clinicians are required to complete and submit notification forms relevant to each condition:
- ARF notification form (PDF 3801 kB)
- RHD notification form (PDF 722 kB)
- Once submitted and confirmed by the local Public Health Unit, the patient’s information is added to the Register.
- Details provided on the notification form are used by the Register to commence reminders to healthcare providers.
What information is collected?
- Patient and primary healthcare provider information.
- Diagnosis information, clinical management plans, disease severity and follow-up frequency.
- Dates of secondary prophylaxis injections, echocardiograms and specialist reviews.
- Pregnancy and surgery details relating to RHD.
How is information collected?
- Information is collected according to the Australian guideline for prevention, diagnosis and management of ARF and RHD.
- Initial information comes from the Notifiable Conditions System when a diagnosis is confirmed.
- Information is sent to the Register from healthcare providers involved in a patients care.
- Additional information may be obtained by Register staff from other Queensland Health systems to complete a patient record.
The Register relies on healthcare providers to send patient treatment, management and movement updates to maintain its currency and share up to date information.
How is the information used?
- Recall lists are sent to health services for patients who are due or overdue for treatment or review:
- Monthly recall lists for Benzathine Benzylpenicillin G (BPG) with last BPG recorded and next due date.
- Quarterly recall lists for echocardiograms with upcoming due and overdue dates.
- Certain information is sent to The Viewer allowing healthcare providers timely access to patient information.
- Deidentified information is reported to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for reporting on ARF and RHD in Australia.
- Information on adherence rates and disease severity is used to inform and evaluate health services to improve health outcomes.
Who can access information on the Register?
Visit the Access information on the Register page for more information.
Privacy information
The Privacy Information page outlines how Queensland Health collects, uses, protects, and shares personal information for patients recorded on the Register, including patient rights and choices.