The new $2.9 million patient management computer system for Dunedin Hospital, which was to be introduced in November, has been delayed until next May.
Otago District Health Board regional chief information officer Grant Taylor said the change was the result of delays in getting equipment and the sheer amount of work required to transfer data from the existing OraCare system.
Under the new system, authorised staff will be able to see all of a patient's referrals for assessment and treatment, appointments, inpatient activities and whether they are on waiting lists. Linking appointments in different departments will also be possible, meaning that when a patient cancels an appointment, other departments could be notified.
With the existing system, appointments and referrals information is held in each department and patients would have to telephone each department if they had a query. The new system should involve just one phone call.
The board had a "`very aggressive time frame" in which to meet its original November deadline, including training about 3000 staff for a minimum of three hours each which is expected to take about 10 weeks.
The delay would be helpful because it would allow more time for testing the system.
Training will not be done until next year, something which had been well received by staff.
It is expected the delay could result in some increased costs, but Mr Taylor said these had not been fully determined yet.
One of them will be a continuation of the board's contract with iSOFT to maintain the OraCare software for another year. This was to have stopped in November.
The board, in its yet-to-be-approved district annual plan, is seeking about $5 million from the Government for capital expenditure on information systems this financial year, including that related to the new patient administration system. Another major item of expenditure will be $1.2 million to be spent on upgrading the server room.
• Dunedin Hospital is still hoping to be chosen as a site to test electronic prescribing, after earlier plans fell through because available funding was insufficient and more planning was needed.
Mr Taylor had expected the trial to begin earlier this year once the Ministry of Health gave approval for the issuing of prescriptions without physical signatures.
However, more work on how an electronic prescribing system would operate was being done through the national safe medication management steering committee with a clinically-focused working party.
A decision could be made within the next month or two.
• The introduction of the new digital system for radiology images at Dunedin Hospital has been completed. It means X-rays are no longer held in hard-copy and taken about the hospital. Images are stored on a central database.
Mr Taylor said the new system had been well received.
