South Island-wide patient administration system puts patient at centre of care

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Picture: Dan Coward and a group of administrators involved in user acceptance testing.

eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

In 2015, the South Island’s five district health boards signed an agreement with Orion Health for a single South Island-wide shared patient administration system. eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth visited Burwood Hospital, the first site to deploy in 2016.

The South Island Patient Information Care System went live at Burwood Hospital in 2016 in a four-stage go-live.

First were outpatient and community services for older person’s health and rehabilitation, followed by inpatients, including the spinal unit and surgical services.

Eighteen months on and Canterbury DHB is getting ready for phase two of the project. Christchurch Hospital will go-live as a ‘whole of site’ by the end of May.

Learning lessons

General manager older persons, orthopaedics and rehabilitation at CDHB Dan Coward says lessons from the Burwood roll-out have been incorporated into planning, training and support for the rest of the DHB.

Christchurch Hospital already has 60 PICS champions, with more due to come on board, and during the go-live there will be floor walkers and a helpdesk available online and via phone.

The regional approach to implementation means there is a regional support team. Orion also provides support staff during go-lives. The DHBs have regional super-users who have tested and piloted the system and who are part of a regional training pool.

The CDHB is predominantly using a patient administration system that was implemented over 20 years ago, so the move to a new system has also involved a huge amount of data cleansing and migration, explains Coward.

All change

Burwood went live with SI PICS at the same time as the new hospital building was opened in August 2016 and Princess Margaret Hospital services were moved on to the Burwood site.

The Burwood implementation team did not want to simply replicate paper processes in a digital format, so they looked at current processes and how they wanted them to work in the new environment.

This involved engaging with consumers and stakeholders on things like developing new letter templates.

Coward says the level of change for some people was huge, as they were changing IT system, workflow, location and, in some cases, their line manager, all at the same time.

Once the system is live at Christchurch Hospital the real benefits will start to be seen, as patients will be able to be transferred across the two sites much more seamlessly. The benefits will continue to grow as it rolls-out to other DHBs around the South Island.

Driving forces

Coward says one of the drivers behind developing the business case for SI PICS was that all the DHBs were operating on legacy patient administration systems. They wanted a replacement system that would not only do patient management, but also scheduling and reporting patient interactions.

SI PICS includes patient demographics; master patient index; appointment booking; waiting list management; patient transfers; record of patient activity; reporting, admission and discharges; and alerts and allergies.

Coward says this level of functionality means the DHBs can ultimately put the patient at the centre of their care.

He uses the example of a patient who needs several appointments or procedures done at one hospital, who under the old systems would have the hassle of multiple appointments on various days that may not fit with their timetable.

He envisages the new system being used to recognise the patient and coordinate their needs so that only one visit is necessary.

Coward says it was also important to have a South Island-wide solution, as Canterbury is the tertiary centre for the region, so it often has patients coming from other areas. Once SI PICS in in place, these patients’ information will follow them between hospitals, saving on data entry and patient frustration at having to repeat their details.

“It’s really important that we don’t have multiple systems that aren’t connected and aren’t talking to each other,” Coward says.

He adds that a huge strength of the system is that updates are released three times a year, so it is continually being improved, based on user feedback.

“That really increases the acceptability and usability of it,” Coward says.

PROJECT CONTACT: For more information on this project you can email Dan Coward.

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