MAY/JUNE2017
eHealth strategy received a big boost in the 2017/18 State Budget, with a record $536 million investment for a suite of transformative digital health initiatives over the next eight years.
Declaring eHealth “arguably the most important revolution in modern healthcare”, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said these funds would deliver health information and services more effectively and efficiently.
“The investment will provide value and safety to patients and practitioners, decrease costs by freeing up clinician time and improve the quality and portability of healthcare services,” he said.
NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research, Brad Hazzard, announced the record level of funding for digital health in a segment broadcast on TEN Eyewitness News, citing electronic medication management (eMeds) as an example of digital systems that are enhancing the safety and quality of patient care across the state.
Also interviewed singing the praises of eMeds was Dr Andrew Hugman, who declared himself a “true believer” in the power of eMeds which is now live at 13 facilities with plans to roll out to a total of 178 facilities thanks to the additional investment announced in the Budget.
Driving the digital health revolution
ContentsChief Executive’s message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Expo registrations now open. . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Budget’s big-ticket items . . . . . . . . . . 3
eRIC extends its reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
NSW Health stays safe
from cyber attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Ensuring eMR availability
in a disaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Corporate IT moving
to Chatswood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
HIC 2017 to focus on
good eMR design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
eMR champions explore and
debate hot topics in new forum . . . . . . . 7
A slice of the eHealth Strategy . . . . . . . . . 8
Ensuring safe transitions of care . . . . . . . 9
The new Office of the CCIO. . . . . . . . . . . 10
National network scopes out
child health projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Hands-on help for rural LHDs . . . . . . . . . 11
Skype for Business
spreading across NSW Health. . . . . . . . . 12
Emergency physician Dr Andrew Hugman talks eMeds to TEN Eyewitness News
Check out our website atwww.ehealth.nsw.gov.au
If you’ve got a story or feedback for eHealth News, please contact Karen Fontaine on 8644 2246 or email [email protected]
eHealthnews
eHealth News May/June 2017
2
Online registrations now openRegister to attend Expo – don’t miss out!We have already reached 1000+ registrations. All delegates are required to register online prior to the event – we will reach capacity and onsite registration will not be possible. Registration for non-NSW Health employees is $324.50 (including GST).
Register now at hsnsw-ehnswexpo.health.nsw.gov.au/registration
Featuring guest speakers Anh Do and Graeme Innes AM,
who will offer their unique takes on the Expo’s
‘Power of Connection’ theme, Expo 2017 is destined
to be a highlight on the NSW Health events calendar.
Register now to avoid disappointment!
Chief Executive’s messageA very big vote of confidence in the work we do here at eHealth NSW arrived with the NSW Government devoting more than half a billion dollars in the 2017/18 Budget towards funding our initiatives.
It’s the ultimate stamp of approval for our 10-year eHealth Strategy for NSW Health, which was supported by three business cases for funding to enable completion of Horizon 1 of the Strategy: Building Consistent Foundations.
Last year’s Budget included a portion of funding for each of the three business cases, and this 2017/18 Budget announcement includes the remainder of the funding up to the full amount recommended in the business cases.
This is fantastic news for eHealth NSW and for the entire NSW public health system as it will enable us to progress
and accelerate implementation of the
eHealth Strategy for NSW Health.
Importantly, it shows that the
Government not only understands
and supports the value proposition
that the eHealth Strategy for NSW Health offers, but has
also placed a great deal of
confidence in our ability to deliver
it across Australia’s largest public
health system.
In delivering the announcement, the
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said these
funds will deliver health information
and services more effectively and
efficiently” and he also declared
eHealth “arguably the most important
revolution in modern healthcare”. I
couldn’t agree more.
I’m proud that the quality of our plans
and business cases, backed by the
successful delivery in partnership with
our Health Agency colleagues, has
led to a fantastic funding outcome.
Our responsibility now is to transform
it into reality and seize this unique
opportunity to create a digitally
enabled and integrated health system
in NSW.
Let’s keep up the important work we
are doing to make healthcare smarter
and safer for the people of this state
and the clinicians who care for them.
Dr Zoran Bolevich
Chief Executive
Chief Information Officer
eHealth NSW
eHealth News May/June 2017
3
$286 million for the Whole of System
Digital Platform• Expansion of State Wide Infrastructure Services
• Expansion of Health Wide Area Network
• Completion of Data Centre Reform Program
• Completion of Clinical Applications Reliability Improvement Program
• A refresh of existing hardware including a progressive move to a ‘as a service’ model.
The Budget’s big-ticket itemsThe NSW Government’s investment in ICT infrastructure and systems will fund a range of initiatives, including…
“Continuing to deliver the growth and accessibility of information to NSW clinicians via HealtheNet with the inclusion of pathology results is exciting, especially as this information is also delivered to patients via My Health Record.
Our journey towards clinical information sharing and patient participation can only get stronger.”
—Julie Cashin, Program Director, HealtheNet and Integrated Care
$236 million for Digital Patient Records
• Completion of the second phase of electronic medical records (eMR2)
• An expanded rollout of eMeds to another 120 facilities across NSW on top of the 58 currently in scope
• Integrating two Cancer eMR solutions to the core eMRs
• Security enhancements to the eMRs
• Providing funding to support migration of the computer-aided dispatch solution for NSW Ambulance to the Government Data Centre
• Funding for enhancements to the Ambulance eMR
• Integration of the NSW Ambulance eMR system with the emergency department eMR solutions
• Completion of the wireless capability rollout to rural Local Health Districts.
$14 million for the
HealtheNet Pathology Results Repository
giving clinicians easier access to public hospital pathology results no matter where tests
were performed
“ Seen as a whole, these measures will result in more complete and readily accessible digital health records for patients. It’s all about creating a seamless view of a patient’s medical history to support quality care. It’s also about making clinical workflows and transitions of care safer and more efficient.”
—Mark Cope, Director, Program Delivery, eHealth NSW
“ The $26M allocated to Data Centre Reform will ensure that ALL data centre and computer facilities operated by NSW Health are relocated to the two highly resilient and secure GovDCs by the end of 2019.”
—Mark Rivers, Program Manager,
Data Centre Reform
“Delivering the capabilities of the electronic medical record (eMR)
consistently across NSW Health and unlocking its benefits for clinical care will mean
better outcomes for patients. This new funding gives us the capacity
to do just that. Importantly, it means eMeds will make medication management demonstrably
safer in almost 180 hospitals across NSW – significantly more than originally planned.”
—Jonathan Di Michiel, Program Director, eMR Connect
eHealth News May/June 2017
4
eHealth NSW’s electronic Record for Intensive Care (eRIC) went live at a further two facilities in a fortnight during June. The first deployment marked eRIC’s metropolitan debut and the second made Mid North Coast Local Health District the first LHD to use eRIC in all of its hospitals.
On 13 June, St George Hospital introduced eRIC to its Intensive Care Unit (ICU). On completion of its new Acute Services Building, there will be 52 beds with eRIC, making St George the largest deployment site for 2017.
It was followed by the 19 June launch of eRIC at Coffs Harbour Health Campus, which joins pilot site Port Macquarie Base Hospital (PMBH).
“This is a significant milestone,” said Rob Paino, eRIC Program Director. “Over the past 12 months, the eRIC Program team has exceeded its initial target, deploying an additional rural facility, and completed the first LHD to use eRIC in all facilities.”
Mid North Coast LHD Chief Executive and Executive Sponsor of eRIC, Stewart Dowrick, said eRIC is improving the way clinicians care for patients.
“Before the introduction of eRIC, PMBH ICU was a paper-based unit,” said Mr Dowrick. “We now have electronic documentation, medication prescribing, and more efficient administration. This has led to enhanced clinical care to patients by improving the quality of support available to ICU clinicians and streamlining the decisions involved with the management of critically ill patients.”
PMBH’s ICU and the eRIC Program team are proving to be a winning combination, with the teams recently awarded the 2017 Mid North Coast LHD Innovation Award in the Digital Technologies Transforming Health category.
The clinical enhancements that eRIC provides are a testament to the collaborative approach delivered to design the system, which was built by clinicians for clinicians.
Ahead of state-wide implementation across 43 ICUs, eRIC is scheduled to go live at five ICUs by the end of 2017, including The Tweed Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, Lismore Base Hospital, Grafton Base Hospital and Blacktown Hospital.
eRIC extends its reach
Clinicians love eRIC
As Acting Nurse Unit Manager in the ICU of Coffs Harbour Health Campus, Nicole Pymont shares how eRIC provides better patient care: “Through the continuous data from devices being uploaded within one system, we can see the trends of patient information which allow clinicians to improve the quality of patient care.
“In the long term, we also hope to see improvements in documentation, medication safety, communication and handover of care. And because less time will be spent on unnecessary administrative tasks, there will be more time to care for patients.”
Nicholas Hardaker uses eRIC at Coffs Harbour Health Campus
The eRIC go-live at St George Hospital
WHAT HAPPENED?The WannaCry ransomware cryptoworm infected computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments of up to $600 to restore access. From 12 May, it infected 230,000 computers in 150 countries, the most affected of which were the UK, Taiwan, Ukraine, India and Russia.
HOW DID WE DEAL WITH IT?The focus of eHealth NSW’s response was to identify vulnerable systems and infrastructure to ensure they were patched, as well as patching and monitoring the NSW Health networks and email gateways. The objective was to immediately identify potential problems, and disallow or disconnect any infected systems, preventing propagation and any large-scale outbreak.
HOW CAN WE STAY SAFE?If you haven’t already, complete eHealth NSW’s Cyber S.A.F.E user awareness training, which helps identify and avoid a phishing attack before it’s too late. Get started by logging into your My Health Learning account at www.hetionline.health.nsw.gov.au – the training appears under the “My Online Learning” section on your home page.
eHealth News May/June 2017
5
It was all hands on deck when eHealth NSW’s Information Services teams undertook a series of urgent mitigation activities in response to the WannaCry ransomware attack on 150 countries in mid-May.
The biggest ransomware outbreak
in history affected the UK’s National
Health Service, triggering a complex
incident response process to
prevent and manage any potential
ransomware outbreaks within health
organisations across Australia.
eHealth NSW’s incident response
team was led by Chief Information
Security Officer Kavesh Moodley
and his team, in close collaboration
with the Technical Services and
Incident Management divisions.
Thanks to their stellar efforts around
the clock for the best part of a week
following the attack, NSW Health
has remained safe and unaffected
to date.
“This has led to zero downtime
to the delivery of critical services
for our staff and customers,” said
Kieron McGarry, Acting Director of
Information Services.
“It was a proud moment for
NSW Health to see such a well-
orchestrated and rapid response
from all levels of staff, including
executives, managers, technical
teams and end users. However, this
is an ongoing threat and we need to
remain vigilant.”
As this was a state-wide security
threat, teams from eHealth NSW
worked closely with Local Health
District Chief Information Officers
and IT directorates including
their technical teams to ensure a
coordinated system-wide approach
to managing the threat.
Other teams such as Corporate
Communications, the Australian
Digital Health Agency, the
NSW Government Chief Information
Security Office as well as other
state government agencies were
also actively engaged, ensuring
information was disseminated to the
appropriate stakeholders.
The efforts drew praise from many
LHDs, with Jon Straker, Acting
IT Director of South Eastern Sydney
LHD’s Information Management
Services Directorate, noting: “At our
risk committee meeting, attended
by Chief Executive Gerry Marr,
we discussed the response to the
WannaCry virus outbreak and the
actions taken.
“The committee and the executive
were very complimentary of
the responses and actions and I
pointed out that we leveraged the
eHealth NSW services and expertise
to help protect the LHD. Many
thanks for your ongoing support
and assistance.”
NSW Health stays safe from cyber attack
Corporate IT moving to ChatswoodCorporate IT is relocating to Chatswood on 18 September and more than 200 of its staff will soon be based across Levels 17, 18 and 19 of Zenith Tower B.
While space issues at the Gladesville site are a key driver for the move, it means Corporate IT will be co-located with the majority of the eHealth NSW workforce which will foster greater collaboration and optimise productivity and innovation.
It also gives Corporate IT the perfect opportunity to adopt New Ways of Working (NWoW).
NWoW provides employees with spaces that are designed to be conducive to good work and that are flexible and sustainable. Where an employee sits will depend on what workspace they prefer, who they need to collaborate with or whether they need a quite space for concentrated work or a more informal space to interact with colleagues.
eHealth News May/June 2017
6
eHealth NSW has signed a major contract with Cerner Corporation to ensure the continued reliability and availability of NSW Health’s electronic medical records (eMRs) even in the event of a major disaster.
The ink is now dry on the contract
which saw eHealth NSW teams and
Chief Information Officers work
together to ensure the best and most
cost-effective outcome for Local
Health Districts and Specialty Health
Networks, 15 of which use Cerner eMRs across their healthcare facilities.
As part of the Clinical Applications Reliability Improvement (CARI) Program, eMR infrastructure hosted within NSW Government Data Centres (GovDCs) will be mirrored across both so that access to eMRs can be restored within hours of a major disaster befalling the other site.
And, during twice-yearly scheduled downtimes, clinicians will have full read-only access to the eMRs.
“It’s a great outcome for our clinicians, and one they’ve been asking for,”
said David Cernjul of eHealth NSW’s eMR Connect Program.“This is all about making the eMR – which is an incredibly valuable tool when it comes to patient care – even more reliable and available for the clinicians who use it on the frontline of healthcare.”
The new disaster recovery service will be progressively implemented from the last quarter of 2017 onwards.
Every day in NSW Health facilities, more than 43,000 clinicians use the eMR to open 700,000 charts, order 245,000 tests and book 36,000 appointments electronically. These numbers are growing every week.
Ensuring eMR availability in a disaster
HIC 2017 to focus on good eMR design
eHealth NSW is lending its expertise to a full-day UX (user experience) design workshop to be held in Brisbane on Sunday 6 August as a prelude to HIC 2017, Australia’s premier health informatics conference.
In partnership with the HISA UX Community of Practice, eHealth NSW
is sponsoring the workshop which will focus on good design in
electronic health records that achieves usable and safe systems.
Three experts in the field will present, including eHealth NSW’s
Dr Anne Miller on the reasons for the importance of good design
in EHRs; the Digital Transformation Agency’s Amanda Brierley on
how we recognise good design; and University of Melbourne’s
Professor Frank Vetere on how we evaluate it.
During breakout masterclasses, panellists will demonstrate
processes for evaluating good EHR design and work with
participants as they try out new tools.
SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Dr Richard Ashby AMCEO
E-Health Queensland
Alex BurkeGroup CEOTigerspike
Matiu BushDesign Integration Lead
RSL Care and RDNS
Dr Ken CarsonSenior Medical Director
Flatiron (USA)
Lucy FalcocchioHealth System Development
Manager Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service
Alana HendersonManaging Director
Alana Henderson Pty Limited
Matthew HoltCo-Chairman
Health 2.0 (USA)
Tony JonesHost of Q&A
ABC TV
Dr Kanav KaholGeneral Secretary
Public Health Technologies Trust (India)
Dr Kudzai KanhutuInfectious Diseases Physician
Refugee Health FellowRoyal Melbourne Hospital
Tim KelseyCEO
Australian Digital Health Agency
Prof Vishaal KishoreInnovation &Public Policy
RMIT University
Bernard Salt AMBusiness Demographics
Australia
Dr Kaveh T. SafaviSenior Managing Director
Health IndustryAccenture Health (USA)
Dr Martin SeneviratneResearch Fellow in
Biomedical InformaticsStanford University
Prof Johanna Westbrook
Director, Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health
Innovation
Dr Justin WongCo-FounderOncallogist
www.hisa.org.au/hic
#HIC17@hisa_hic
Come to HIC and learn how you can improve your clinical practice and patient outcomes 3 REASONS TO ATTEND
ULTIMATE MEETING
PLACE
of digital health, e-health and health informatics in Austrlia
A UNIQUE
CHANCE
for networking with key decision makers and leading industryexperts
LEARNANDIMPROVE
the quality and effectiveness of
your work
DIGITALHOSPITALDESIGN hic
OVER 150 PRESENTATIONS 1000 DELEGATES 50+ EXHIBITORS
Bringing together health’s most forward
thinking innovators6 - 9 AUGUST 2017 BRISBANE
Engaging with clinicians across NSW
The eMR Connect Clinical Leaders’ Network
supplements the regular Clinical Engagement
Forums hosted by eHealth NSW Chief Clinical
Information Officer Dr John Lambert. The
Clinical Engagement Forums discuss all digital
solutions used by NSW Health clinicians, and are
held at various locations around NSW and live
video web-streamed across the state.
eHealth News May/June 2017
7
The inaugural eMR Connect Clinical Leaders’ Network took place in May, as a forum for clinical experts and implementation leads for electronic medical record (eMR) projects and optimisation across NSW Local Health Districts (LHDs).
In developing the eMR for NSW, the eMR Connect Program is striving to deliver high-quality, scalable and safe systems underpinned by rigorous clinical governance and meaningful engagement with clinicians and LHD teams.
The eMR Connect Clinical Leaders’ Network is shaping up as a valuable source of collective expertise for the Program, as well as an opportunity for key stakeholders to learn from others grappling with similar issues to become more informed champions for their local eMR projects.
eMR Connect Program Director Jonathan Di Michiel said that, in addition to being a collaborative
forum, the eMR Connect Clinical Leaders’ Network will be important for the success of the Program.
“As the number of NSW Health hospitals using the eMR grows, and especially as we accelerate the roll-out of electronic medication management (eMeds), it’s vital that we understand and learn from the range of clinical perspectives available to us,” Jonathan said.
“Only then can these be applied to shape smarter, safer and better health solutions in the future.”
Each session will feature a number of ‘hot topics’ around eMR implementations for exploration and debate.
At the first Clinical Leaders Network event, discussion focused on the various ‘go-live’ models adopted to date in rolling out the eMR and related functionality such as eMeds.
“The discussion confirmed that
there’s no one ‘right’ way: it’s about
understanding why a particular
approach is being taken, managing
the risks and making it work in your
location,” said Cheryl McCullagh,
Director of Clinical Integration for
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network,
who chaired the session.
The next event will take place in
August – contact lisa.shaheen@
health.nsw.gov.au
for more information.
eMR champions explore and debate hot topics in new forum
More than 50 representatives of Local Health Districts and eHealth NSW attended the recent eMR Connect Clinical Leaders Network
eHealth News May/June 2017
8
In every edition, we drill down into a section of the eHealth Strategy for NSW Health: 2016-2026. This time we look at one of the Strategy’s 11 Underpinning Principles – Standards Based Environment – and speak with Andrew Perkins, Director of eHealth NSW’s Investment, Strategy and Architecture directorate.
Andrew Perkins, Director, Investment, Strategy & Architecture
How and why is eHealth NSW putting minimum standards in place for key tasks such as consistent identification of patients and uniform sharing of information?
We are continuing to develop information standards to promote consistent ICT solution capabilities and facilitate information sharing across ICT systems. A standards-based environment helps improve the overall quality of technology solutions while also reducing integration costs and complexity.
eHealth NSW has implemented state-wide standards and solutions for managing patient identity based on a single identity across NSW Health ICT systems. The ability to consistently identify patients is based on state and national health identifier standards that provide a common secure approach to sharing of digital patient health information across care providers and with patients via the national My Health Record.
Can you provide an example of how NSW Health has successfully streamlined interoperability?
Adopting information standards provides NSW Health with a common understanding of our data collections and consistent methods for exchanging it between ICT applications. The enterprise patient repository, enterprise image repository and HealtheNet clinical repository are examples of statewide solutions that have adopted common standards that facilitate interoperability of patient information across NSW Health organisations and with private health providers via the national My Health Record.
Why is the implementation of common architecture and standards, particularly for infrastructure and data services, so important across NSW Health?
Adoption of common architecture standards helps to promote reusable and scalable solutions while providing users with a more consistent experience interacting with ICT systems. Reusable services represent opportunities to reduce IT development times and costs, and leverage investments in current platform services.
It is important to deliver a robust minimum standard of infrastructure
and network capacity so that electronic systems are reliable and secure across the state. Common data architecture and standards enable all users across NSW Health to quickly and easily comprehend information, improve trust and integrity of data, and drive consistency in data use and decision support analytics focussed on achieving improved health outcomes.
Describe the ‘brave new world’ in which minimum standards are the rule and not the exception…
Alignment of ICT systems to minimum standards is a core focus of architecture evaluations as part of eHealth investment planning, solution design and implementation assurance activities for state-wide solutions.
Minimum standards as the ‘rule’ provides a basis to foster ICT solutions that are more easily integrated and scalable across our ICT ecosystem to share relevant information across core systems, promote quality and safety and workflow continuity across care providers.
A slice of the eHealth Strategy
Standards Based Environment Adopting health information standards to facilitate and streamline the interoperability of ICT systems, reducing integration costs while improving the overall quality of delivered components.
eHealth News May/June 2017
9
Ensuring safe transitions of care
To support a continued focus on safety in health IT, a working group has examined the clinical requirements for safely transferring information between a hospital’s wards and its intensive care unit (ICU).
The initial scope of the Transitions of Care (ToC) working group focused on the handover of medication information. Last year, the group conducted detailed analysis of the issues in the various settings, including paper records and a mix of technology systems.
It became clear that to address the safety requirements, factors including people, process and technology all had a contribution to improving practices. The first phase of this work was to understand the requirements of clinicians including nursing, pharmacy, wards and ICUs.
To gather the requirements and examine best practices to support safe handover, more than 50 people attended a 6
June session, comprising clinicians and eMR Connect and electronic Record for Intensive Care (eRIC) analysts, as well as architecture and industry partners.
eHealth NSW’s Clinical Adviser, Dr Peter Kennedy, facilitated the session, with Regiane Schippers and Dr Amith Shetty leading the interactive sessions.
“This was a successful engagement and discussion with clinicians about their needs, providing everyone with an opportunity to share their experience and contribute their perspective to the priority areas,” Dr Kennedy said.
“The involvement of clinicians, technical staff and multiple industry partners in reaching consensus on the key clinical processes has set a benchmark for future projects.”
The next phase entails developing architectural requirements, which will be followed proposals from our industry partners on possible solutions. Updates will be provided in the coming months.
A mix of clinicians and eMR Connect and eRIC analysts, as well as Enterprise Architecture and industry partners, attended the 6 June workshop
This was a successful
engagement and discussion with clinicians
about their needs
eHealth News May/June 2017
10
The Office of the Chief Clinical Information Officer (OCCIO) has expanded its scope and capacity to become eHealth NSW’s principal hub for clinical engagement, innovation, design support and strategic advice.
The structure of the OCCIO is
being reshaped to support the
delivery of these services, with a
number of new team members
recently joining the team.
Three Team Leads have been
appointed to head the Strategy
and Design, Innovation, and
Operations teams, bringing with
them a wealth of valuable skills
and experience.
Maryanne Ng –
Head of Operations
Maryanne leads the Operations
Team which supports the effective
operation of the Office, including
facilitating clinical engagement
and communications.
Maryanne’s 16-year career has
been dedicated to facilitating the
many aspects of clinical research.
Most recently she was Senior
Manager of Clinical Operations
and Project Management at
the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation, managing teams and
overseeing clinical projects within
a $35-million research network.
Luckman Hlambelo – Team Lead,
Strategy and Design
Luckman leads the Strategy and
Design Team to provide strategy
and policy advice as well as design
support for Clinical Solutions.
He joins the team after 10 years of
providing strategic and operations
leadership as a senior executive in
various hospitals and health care
units. He has expertise in clinical
and corporate governance, health
service planning and business
system evaluation.
Anthony Fallick – Team Lead,
Innovation
Anthony will be leading the
Innovation Team as it generates,
analyses and advises on ideas and
innovations for Clinical Solutions, and
supports their delivery.
Anthony has more than 15 years’
experience in product strategy and
management across media, health,
mobile, telecommunications, agency,
government, and not-for-profit
environments. Most recently, he was
Digital Project Consultant and Senior
Product Manager for HealthDirect
Australia. “I’m thrilled about the mix
of skills and expertise we are adding
to the OCCIO and eHealth NSW as a
whole”, said Chief Clinical Information
Officer Dr John Lambert.
“We’ve hand-picked talented people
who will help ensure the Office
delivers on its mission to build better,
safer tools that improve outcomes
for patients.
“The new teams will be rolling out
services over the coming months,
with further staff recruitment planned
for later this year. We look forward to
welcoming all new team members on
board in the near future.’
The new Office of the CCIO
eHealth News May/June 2017
11
National network scopes out child health projects
L-R: Jenny Wei from eHealth NSW; Dr Michael Brydon, Chief Executive of Sydney Children’s Hospital Network; Angela Ryan of the Australian Digital Health Agency; and Jemma Black, Petra Milnes, Steve Badham and Dr Zoran Bolevich from eHealth NSW
A series of interactive workshops were held across Australia in June to support the work of the National Collaborative Network for Child Health Informatics, which is being led by NSW Health.
On behalf of the Australian Digital Health Agency, eHealth NSW has partnered with the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network to identify and scope a number of strategic national projects and initiatives by the end of August 2017.
The aim is to harness patient-centred and clinician-friendly digital systems and capabilities to achieve positive health and wellbeing outcomes for Australian children.
Held in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, the themed Partnership Groups workshops brought
together Australia’s leading experts in children’s health to
achieve common understanding and commitment across
clinician, consumer, and health policy communities about
the key opportunities to better child and adolescent health.
Steve Badham, Program Manager, said: “It’s been
fantastic to see the commitment and enthusiasm of
the multi-disciplinary teams in our workshops, working
together to define how digital health technology can be
leveraged to improve the health outcomes for children and
young people.”
Following the Partnership Groups workshops, the
initiatives proposed will be given to the Network’s Expert
Reference Group in July for further validation, scoping
and prioritisation ahead of submission for potential future
funding by the Agency’s Board at the end of August.
Hands-on help for rural LHDs
In a bid to increase user confidence and improve the efficient use of the eMR application in preparation for the imminent roll-out of eMeds across rural facilities, rural-based clinicians have been provided with hands-on, follow-up support.
eMR support teams have worked with eHealth NSW’s Rural eHealth staff to offer clinicians the opportunity to grow and enhance their skills in using the eMR.
The project kicked off on 15 May in Young, with Murrumbidgee LHD reporting great enthusiasm and appreciation from frontline staff for the support shown to them.
In Young, Joy Hodges views an eMR analytics dashboard showing 100% compliance with mandatory risk assessments, allergies, height and weight completion and all notes signed in the inpatient setting
eHealth News May/June 2017
12
More than 5,000 staff working in the Far West and Western NSW Local Health Districts will soon benefit from using Skype for Business, ahead of the state-wide collaboration platform’s broader roll-out across NSW Health.
The LHDs’ Telehealth Manager Sharyn Cowie said: “Far West and Western NSW LHDs have virtual teams operating across vast distances. Access to Skype for Business will assist with team networking and with broader staff communication.”
Combining audio, video, instant messaging, screen and content sharing, presence, and outlook calendar integration into a single easy-to-use application, Skype for Business is part of the Infrastructure Portfolio’s Conference, Collaboration and Wireless (CCW) program led by Jason Matthews.
“Skype for Business has a large and growing number of fans in NSW Health,” said Shane Keys, Skype for Business Project Manager.
“Staff are quick to identify
how Skype can enhance their
collaboration and communication
experience and boost efficiency by
reducing the need to travel to and
from meetings.”
Around 3,500 staff in eHealth NSW,
HealthShare NSW, Western NSW and
Far West LHDs currently use Skype
for Business, with current capacity
for up to 40,000. This is scalable
further and will be reviewed as
demand increases.
Andrew Pedrazzini, Director of
eHealth NSW’s Infrastructure
Portfolio, said: “The Infrastructure
Office has been working hard
to deliver a robust Skype for
Business state-wide platform that
provides staff with an effective,
low-cost, feature-rich, and
scalable collaborative experience.
The great news is that Skype is
available to all eHealth NSW and
HealthShare NSW staff.”
Staff can request Skype for Business by providing their name and staff ID to the State Wide Service Desk. For more information, email [email protected]
Did you know?Use of Skype for Business is growing rapidly, with just one week in June featuring:
8 10,000 Skype sessions;
n 279 Skype conferences; and
0 More than 1,700 Skype audio minutes consumed.
Skype for Business spreading across NSW Health
Skype for Business is enhancing eHealth NSW headquarters, with three prototype meeting rooms recently set up on Level 13 of Zenith Tower B.
Providing a fully integrated Skype for Business videoconferencing experience, the Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra rooms can be booked via Outlook.