Consultant to lead Dunedin’s Digital Hospital project

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Southern DHB is looking for a consultant to deliver the digital infrastructure and facility systems for the country’s “first Digital Hospital”, being built in Dunedin.

An advance notice of a contract opportunity from the DHB says it is not looking for systems or software vendors or equipment suppliers, but for a consultant to lead all aspects of the digital facilities and digital infrastructure process.

“The role is for an experienced design consultant with the requisite skills to deliver the varied design, management and assurance requirements defined within the RFP,” it says. 

It describes the role as a “unique opportunity” as the consultant will have responsibility for the entire project systems design and delivery.

“As well as being the largest facility built to date it will be NZ’s first Digital Hospital and will likely set the benchmark for future facility projects,” the notice says. 

Southern DHB has produced an ambitious Digital Blueprint for its new hospital, which the aim of being ‘paper light’, with a full digital health record.

The Blueprint says patient and staff location details, as well as assets, will be tracked across the hospital site using a combination of Bluetooth and RFID wrist bands.

Patients will be able to “check-in” via kiosks or on a new Dunedin Hospital app, which will act as a “digital wayfinder”, providing information about car parking and directions once on site.

Telehealth video conferencing will be available throughout the new facility and on mobile devices and a patient engagement system will provide patient and staff details, on demand meal ordering and staff access to the digital health record.

The notice says, “the scope of the engagement is a Digital Infrastructure and Digital Facility Systems package (primarily the active Digital infrastructure) that addresses the digital needs of the project and is coordinated with the other digital design packages already underway including the traditional ‘passive’ ICT services (managed by the Incumbent NDH design team) and the clinical and corporate software systems (managed by the SDHB)”. 

Southern DHB executive director people, culture and technology Mike Collins is leaving the DHB in July to take up a new position as chief executive of Business South. A DHB spokesperson says the consultant role was already planned as part of the hospital build and not related to his departure.

Collins says the technology underpinning the new Dunedin Hospital will make a positive difference in the lives of patients and staff across the Southern region.

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