'Intensive effort' to fix Central Region RIS issues

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Te Whatu Ora has halted the roll-out of the Central Region Radiology Information System to Hutt Valley and Wairarapa Hospitals while 'intensive effort' is undertaken to fix issues uncovered by the implementation at Capital and Coast.

Te Whatu Ora Capital and Coast went live with the regional Radiology Information System (RIS) and PACS reporting solution on the Philips Vue imaging platform in May 2022.

The move is part of an agreement between the six Central Region districts – CCDHB, Hutt Valley, Wairarapa, MidCentral, Whanganui and Hawke’s Bay – to implement shared regional ICT systems to support radiology functions and improve access to patient data across the region.

Whanganui, MidCentral, and Hawke’s Bay districts are already using the regional RIS and implementation was being planned for Hutt Valley and Wairarapa.

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A statement from Te Whatu Ora says that "while implementation for Capital and Coast rolled out as planned, with no disruption experienced during the transition, we acknowledge there have been several problems with the regional RIS".

These problems were exacerbated and largely uncovered by the roll-out of the system at Capital and Coast.

The performance and stability of the system has improved in recent weeks due to changes within the system’s infrastructure and the issues raised by radiologists have been heard and are being addressed, the statement says.

Te Whatu Ora central region radiology clinical network director, Jaco van der Walt, says they are not aware of any adverse patient outcomes that may have resulted from the issues identified with the regional RIS.

“While some of the issues identified have proven difficult to resolve, any risk to patients has been mitigated by the tireless work of our clinical staff who manually check work lists and distribution of patient reports," he says.

The RIS has been prioritised in the region’s Data and Digital work programme.

"An intensive effort is underway to resolve current flaws, while wider work continues to upgrade our radiology departments to a new and more dependable digital platform," the statement says.

The onboarding of Hutt Valley and Wairarapa Hospitals has been delayed until the current issues are resolved.

Erin Currie, country manager of Philips New Zealand, says Philips is fully supporting Te Whatu Ora and their clinical teams in addressing the issues.

"Efforts related to workflow and data optimisations across the Central Region’s IT infrastructure have been underway in recent weeks," she says.

"Timely implementation of ongoing upgrades is important for the stability of the system and these are being prioritised by Te Whatu Ora. We believe these are positive steps towards mitigating these issues in the future, supporting the functioning of a modern platform for clinical radiology operations."

A spokesperson for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists says it has been consistent in its advocacy to the New Zealand Government in relation to investment in radiology infrastructure for the health system.

This includes, upgrading to a national RIS-PACS and enabling clinical information sharing through eReferral, access to historic images and shared patient records.



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