SDHB to consider purchase of TrendCare software

The Southern District Health Board, at its meeting in Dunedin today, will consider spending $306,301 on a software system to improve the way it allocates nursing staff to meet the needs of patients.

The system, called TrendCare, developed in Australia and already used in many hospitals, works out how many nursing hours are needed on wards by assessing what patients' needs will be. The duty co-ordinator can see where extra staff may be needed or where surplus staff could be moved.

Under the existing system staffing allocations are based on historic patterns, but the new system will allow for immediacy and greater accuracy.

The report on the business case says the use of the programme will help the board to deliver safer quality care, help productivity and provide a healthy work environment for staff.

The call for funding follows a trial of the programme at six Dunedin Hospital wards and four at Southland Hospital. If approval for the project is given, it is expected that it could be implemented across both hospitals by next July.

At its meeting yesterday the hospitals' advisory committee agreed to recommend the board buy the programme. The committee was told money has been allocated for the purchase in the board's draft budget which has yet to be approved by the Ministry of Health.

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