National Health Service Directory: Connecting the community to care

The National Health Services Directory (NHSD) is an important part of Australia’s digital health system. It supports national health plans and helps both the public and health professionals find care. It is a trusted source of information that consumers, providers and governments can rely on.

The NHSD supports governments to implement reform and health policies, referrals between provider, health helplines to help available services for callers and for consumers to self-source service options via the Service Finder which is the public face of the NHSD.

Service Finder

Service Finder provides consumers a simple, free way to search for and connect with health services in their area. Whether someone needs a GP accepting new patients, a pharmacy open late, or an allied health provider close to home, Service Finder brings together nationally consistent, up-to-date information in one place, helping people make informed choices when selecting health providers without having to call around or search multiple sites.

Continuous data management

To support Commonwealth and state and territory health policy and reform, maintaining the currency and accuracy of the NHSD is critical for enabling referrals and consumers to find services available to them.   

If your network includes health services, please forward this article to them with this link to update or register their practice or clinic information for service providers.

Supporting national reform

We work closely with the Commonwealth to support national reform.   

From November 2025, the Commonwealth’s Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Payment program stated participating practices had to list their bulk-billing services in the NHSD, making them visible in Service Finder and the Australian Government’s real-time bulk-billing map.

We worked with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to increase visibility of services that accept Veteran cards. This included the addition of a Service Finder filter to allow for a customised search for these specific services. Launching in June 2026, this supported the Commonwealth’s response to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, which highlighted the challenges veterans can face when seeking care during transition or crisis. It allows veteran card holders to know which providers will accept their card before they go to the provider. 

NHSD also supports state reforms that improve access to care 

We helped to implement Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) prescriber rule changes by enabling Healthdirect helpline nurses and consumers to find clinicians who provide ADHD continuation scripts. A dedicated NHSD ADHD Continuation Prescriber widget is on the NSW Health website to help consumers find local GPs offering this service quickly. Traditionally, a filter on Service Finder, allows users to easily find ADHD continuation prescribing General practitioners.

The Directory also supported NSW Health’s expanded scope pharmacy program by improving the visibility, accuracy and governance of participating pharmacies, helping consumers find appropriate community pharmacy care and reducing avoidable ED demand.