$97m for New Dunedin Hospital data and digital infrastructure

eHealthNews.nz: Infrastructure

$97m for New Dunedin Hospital data and digital infrastructure

Monday, 17 April 2023

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The government has allocated $97 million to fund stage one of the data and digital solutions and infrastructure for the New Dunedin Hospital.

The focus for stage 1 will be digital infrastructure, which includes digital wayfinding services, digital check-in kiosks, information displays and the network, building management and WIFI connectivity required for the new Outpatient Building to operate.

Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall says, “the Minister of Finance and I have agreed to an additional $97 million to go towards the data and digital infrastructure required to make the new hospital operational.

“Its design and use of the latest technologies will mean better patient flow and improved access to diagnostics and treatment spaces which will help reduce unnecessary delays.”

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Te Whatu Ora Southern chief digital officer Patrick Ng says it is exciting to have sign-off for stage one funding. This covers the full digital infrastructure for the new outpatient building, opening in 2025.

Also funding for adaptation of existing digital solutions so that they will work with the new building and business case funding to request funding for the future requirements of the inpatient building, when it opens.

Ng says the new outpatient building will not house paper medical records.

“All of the digital infrastructure that we need for the operation of a contemporary facility is going to be in place when the outpatient building opens,” he says.

“Patients will receive their appointment on their device, receive guidance on where to park and what entrance to use, and be able to navigate to their appointments more seamlessly.

“After they check in digitally using a kiosk, they will be able to receive updates about when their appointment is going to occur and wait for notifications in the café, rather than in the waiting room, if they want to.

“It will feel a lot more modern, contemporary and seamless and it should minimise how much time patients spend ‘lost’ in our buildings.”

A scanning initiative will use a solution called Side Capture to digitally scan all new medical record content and make this available via the clinical portal, Health Connect South. This solution is already used in Nelson Marlborough and Mid Central districts.

There is also a project to increase the use of digital forms, so more information is input electronically.

“These paper light initiatives mean that clinicians will be able to access the information they need from the electronic clinical portal that they currently use, rather than from the paper medical chart. That enables them to access the information immediately, and for multiple clinicians to access the content at the same time,” says Ng.

Only new documents will be scanned, not historical, but over time these will replace the need to request paper records.

Southern is also in the process of appointing a digital infrastructure delivery partner to “act as an integrator and to bring together all the third party products and services that are needed to create the overall digital infrastructure for the new buildings,” he explains.

“We have put a lot of effort into the design of the digital infrastructure and worked with our national colleagues. At least 50 percent of the design can be reused for other projects such as Nelson and Whangarei hospitals when the digital infrastructure requirements for those new buildings are put together.”

Te Whatu Ora Southern in also planning to go live with the South Island Patient Information Care System (SI PICS) in October of this year.