Background
We were set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2001 to collect data on selected major disease and health conditions in Singapore. This information is used to understand how these diseases and conditions are evolving in Singapore so that MOH can work on and improve the situation.
We currently manage four registries for common diseases, namely:
● cancer
● chronic kidney failure
● stroke
● acute myocardial infarction/heart attack
In addition, we also look at the effects on living donors after kidney and liver donation (the Donor Care Registry).
What we do
We are responsible for:
● collecting the data and maintaining the registry on reportable health conditions and diseases that have been diagnosed and treated in Singapore
● publishing reports on these health conditions and diseases
● providing information to support national public health policies, healthcare services and programmes
How the registry works
The National Registry of Diseases Act allows us to access medical information and collect data on various health conditions in Singapore. Find out more about this legislation.
Data collection and entry
Data collection and entry are carried out by NRDO officers, known as registry coordinators, who are supervised by a trained nurse specialising in disease registry work.
We identify new cases using a number of sources, including:
● notifications from healthcare professionals
● hospital medical records
The registry coordinators verify and extract relevant information from hospital medical records, both paper or electronic. They then enter the data into the database. Where possible, data is collected electronically from the hospital systems.
Data management, data analysis and reporting
A team of data management staff will then manage the database to ensure that all data collected has been validated and properly anonymised. They also extract data to be used for analysis and reporting.
A team of analysts, including epidemiologists and biostatisticians, then analyse the data and produce reports regularly for the MOH. The reports contain aggregate data and trends on incidence, regularity and mortality of the disease covered by the particular registry.
The team will also produce aggregated data on an ad hoc basis for media queries and research projects.
Quality assurance
A team of quality assurance executives ensure that requests for data go through the proper levels of approval, and that data is being released according to the guidelines of the National Registry of Diseases Act.
The team also work with the registry staff to produce quality assurance policies and processes to ensure we are working at a consistently high standard.
Registry advisory committees
For each registry, the MOH appoints a registry advisory committee, which is made up of clinicians and epidemiologists from various public and private healthcare sectors.
The registry committees are responsible for:
● providing professional support to the NRDO
● helping healthcare professionals and institutions submit relevant data to the NRDO
● advising on the annual registry report
● ensuring reports required by the MOH are submitted on time and in the appropriate format
● advising and helping to develop the registry system
● promoting the use of registry data