NSW Health

Telstra, NTT contracted for major ICT upgrade in NSW health facilities eHealth NSW disclosed that telecommunications companies Telstra and NTT were tapped to upgrade the wired and wireless networking infrastructure of more than 1,100 public health facilities across New South Wales. Hospitals and community health centres will "progressively undergo a refresh of local networking hardware and software that underpin our increasingly digital hospital environments," said Ian Schrader, infrastructure director at eHealth NSW. The major network infrastructure upgrade is part of NSW Health's Health Grade Enterprise Network initiative for purchasing and managing statewide ICT network infrastructure. North Queensland GPs leverage AI for MyMedicare registrations General practices under the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network have adopted AI technology to boost voluntary patient registrations to MyMedicare. NQPHN recently partnered with health tech company Healthily to offer GPs across North Queensland the GoShare Voice technology to assist in identifying and reaching out to eligible patients for MyMedicare registration. The AI-based tool also enables automated outbound phone calls with patients who have not responded initially to SMS invites to MyMedicare to further discuss registration options and allow them to pose queries . MyMedicare is the federal government's voluntary patient registration model that aims to formalise the relationship between patients, their GPs, and primary care teams. With funding under NQPHN’s MyMedicare Mini Continuous Quality Improvement, the adoption of GoShare Voice will also assist GPs in preparing for im pending changes to subsidised chronic conditions management items under the Medicare Benefits Scheme in November. Austin Health's Virtual Ward now business-as-usual Austin Health's technology-enabled at-home care service, which was piloted in 2021 through federal government funding, is now running "business-as-usual." The Hospital in the Home & Virtual Care Virtual Ward now accommodates up to 10 patients at a time, focusing on high clinical acuity patients such as cardiac and haematology patients. They are monitored using a watch or patch and are seen in near-real time by a hospital-based care team via teleconference calls. In February, the Virtual Ward started integrating data from wearable devices into the EMR, enhancing patient data management.

Diabetes WA discloses data breach Diabetes WA, the peak body for diabetes in Western Australia, has reported unauthorised access to the personal information of some of their contacts. Based on its initial investigation, the following information may have been accessed by hackers: name, address, birth date, email, telephone number, marital status, Aboriginal status, Medicare number, referring doctor, and type of diabetes. The organisation already reached out to the affected individuals and recommended they apply for a replacement Medicare number. It still assured, however, that "no detailed medical records or detailed clinical information were accessed." "The breach was quickly detected and fully contained," it added. Following this incident, Diabetes WA said it will "further reinforce our technology security measures to protect us from potential future attacks." The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner was already notified of the matter, it also shared. My Health Record enables access to NHI Te Whatu Ora recently announced that it has enabled access to more health information on its latest My Health Record platform. Besides being able to view immunisation history and COVID-19 test results, users can now also view and update the details of their National Health Index, High Use Health Card and Community Services Card. They can also view the COVID-19 results and some NHI details of their children whose accounts are linked to theirs. "We are now empowering consumers and whanau to proactively determine their own identity information, including ethnicity and gender," added Te Whatu Ora Digital Channels sector director Michael Dreyer. More information will be accessible on My Health Record soon, including current and past medications and lab results. The old My Covid Record used during the height of the global pandemic was redeveloped into My Health Record to provide secure, one-stop access to New Zealanders' personal health information. Dispatch support solution sought for NSW Ambulance NSW Health is seeking suppliers of a dispatch decision support system for NSW Ambulance. The technology is expected to support the management of dispatch and deployment of ambulances across the state. In recent years, the emergency services provider has been beefing up its technological capabilities by adopting a mobile emergency alert and dispatch app and a cardiac notification platform and upgrading its radio network . SA endoscopic hospital digitises patient pathway Northern and Southern Endoscopy, South Australia's first standalone endoscopic day hospital, has recently digitised its patient pathways with Personify Care. The hospital had dealt with huge preadmission calls and relied heavily on paper forms for triage and manual risk screening. Now, it has enabled patients to complete pre-clinic health assessments online upon referral. On the staff side, they can now look into patients' risk status on a dashboard, quickly identifying high-risk patients through clinical alerts. The Personify Care platform also automates triage and sends patients digital confirmation of their procedure details, personalised bowel preparation instructions, and informed financial consent. "[T]his shift has not only reduced the administrative burden but has also paved the way for substantial time savings in nursing and administrative tasks," administration manager Kelly Carpenter attested. The hospital shared that over nine in 10 patients are now confirming their appointments via the digital pathway platform while 82% have adopted it alongside their care.

NSW Health has picked Epic to deliver its Single Digital Patient Record project, which seeks to unify all EMR and pathology information systems across the state. Subject to the successful completion of contractual negotiations, Epic's supply contract will replace nine existing EMR platforms, six PAS, five pathology LIMS and several other clinical support systems, which have been provided by Cerner, Orion Health, DXC, Citadel, and Integrated Software Solutions. The SDPR will provide comprehensive, real-time electronic access to medical records across NSW Health, covering 15 Local Health Districts (LHDs), two specialty health networks and all NSW Health pathology laboratories. According to eHealth NSW chief executive and CIO Dr Zoran Bolevich, they engaged more than 350 expert stakeholders, including clinicians, scientists and technical experts, to evaluate Epic's supply proposal. "Their expertise, along with meaningful engagement with healthcare consumers, will continue to guide us as we roll out SDPR across the state," he added. THE LARGER TREND Epic, which remains the Best in Klas software suite in 12 years, is also delivering ACT's statewide Digital Health Record system. The ACT government in August invested another $35 million in the project, which is expected to go online this year. Meanwhile, the NSW government last year invested over $105 million in SDPR. The system will go live first at Hunter New England LHD before its full rollout across the state. ON THE RECORD "Patients and our busy staff will benefit from clinical insights gained from the capture of important new data that enables ongoing innovation across the state. Our work in pathology is vital to the diagnostic process and developing a statewide [LIMS] will ensure we provide the best possible services to the community and partners for decades to come," NSW Health Pathology chief executive Tracey McCosker commented about the SDPR project.