It’s expected the new baby registry system will save parents up to 30 minutes in paperwork. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
An Australian-first is being trialled at The Canberra Hospital and North Canberra Hospital to make registering a new baby less strenuous for parents.
The service aims to use a ‘tell us once’ approach so that parents no longer need to interact with government agencies up to seven times, repeatedly with the same information.
The trial will see a person’s birth registered across federal and territory government agencies using myGov.
ACT Special Minister of State Chris Steel said it was about streamlining access to services across both governments through secure data sharing.
“I know that the birth of a child is busy time in a parents’ lives. This is about giving back time to new parents so they can concentrate on their new child,” he said.
“This new system means spending less time filling out all the required forms whilst still gaining access to important healthcare and other services from birth.”
The early stages of the trial use the details a parent provides at the hospital to register their baby for federal government services so that they can access health services sooner.
This includes enrolling the baby in Medicare, the Medicare Safety Net, My Health Record and the Australian Immunisation Register, as well as confirming the baby’s birth for Centrelink Family Assistance claims.
Parents will also be able to register the birth of their baby with the ACT Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages using myGov.
It’s expected this will save parents, on average, 30 minutes filling out paperwork.
It will also hopefully avoid the headache of having to chase up important paperwork needed to access services with hospitals (if you don’t get around to grabbing all those files before you’re discharged).
The service has been designed so that all parents have to do is double-check that their information is correct in myGov, fill in any gaps, and hit submit.
Federal Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the end-to-end digital service was also designed to reduce the risk of errors and make sure a baby’s information was consistent across platforms.
“This is a simple but smart announcement. We want to make sure the paperwork which takes up so much time in people’s lives is just solved,” he said.
“This is another step to making government services simpler so people can get on with their lives – in this case, giving parents back valuable time to spend with their baby.
“Australia needs innovative government services, and this initiative is a huge step in the right direction.”
Two Queensland hospitals are also taking part in the trial.
It’s hoped the new registry will be accessible in all hospitals by next year.
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