Patients in the Waitemata district in Auckland will ultimately benefit from improved health outcomes under an agreement to develop e-health initiatives between Waitemata DHB and Orion Health.
Under the three-year innovation partnership, North Shore Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit and Ward 10 (Haematology) will become hubs for the development of new technology supporting healthcare delivery.
The DHB has the largest population of any district health board in the country. It provides services to approximately 500,000 residents of North Shore City, Waitakere City, and Rodney District.
An initial focus will be on making these two wards ‘paperless’ using electronic systems to replace traditional paper-based processes. Products developed through the innovation agreement would ultimately be extended to primary care, community-based and outpatient services.
“This agreement positions Waitemata DHB as a national leader in technology adoption,” says Waitemata DHB CEO Dr Dale Bramley. “One of our driving values as an organisation is to provide ‘better, best, brilliant’ care to our patients and this agreement aligns with our determination to drive better care through innovation.
“The technologies developed under this agreement will be the product of real-world testing and refinement based on the input of people at the frontline of healthcare.
“Our patients and their whanau will benefit from the new models of care that flow as a result, such as the potential for mobile devices to be used for reviewing results, entering notes and coordinating care at the bedside.”
The technologies developed under this agreement will be the product of real-world testing and refinement based on the input of people at the frontline of healthcare.
Read more: Tait upgrades police communications system in Brazil ahead of FIFA World Cup
Dr Bramley says innovation could arise from anywhere in the organisation – hospital wards or primary care – and the partnership with Orion Health would enable improvements to existing products and the development of new products that could be made available to other DHBs.
Orion Heath CEO Ian McCrae says the company had other innovation partnerships which were extremely productive in generating new products and better health delivery and care. “Health professionals have a lot of excellent product ideas and this gives them an outlet where that creativity can be realised as products.”
McCrae says Orion Health’s innovation partnerships also provided great economic value for New Zealand as they initiated or enhanced products which are exported across the globe as well as providing high-paying jobs for the company’s 500 New Zealand-based employees.
Under the agreement, Orion Health will provide the latest versions of its software systems for the two wards as well as implementation and support. The project will be reviewed after 12 months to evaluate the processes and further developments.
Read more: ‘Traditional’ banks may not exist by 2025: PwC
Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz
Follow Divina Paredes on Twitter: @divinap
Follow CIO New Zealand on Twitter:@cio_nz
Sign up for CIO newsletters for regular updates on CIO news, views and events.
Read more: Vocus proposes to acquire FX Networks
Join the CIO New Zealand group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.