E-Health benefits spread as Sydney team chosen to lead roll-out
Patients are set to benefit from a better, safer and more integrated medical records system to be developed by a consortium of Sydney health providers that have been chosen as one of nine new projects to lead the roll-out of e-health records.
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29 March 2011
Patients are set to benefit from a better, safer and more integrated medical records system to be developed by a consortium of Sydney health providers that have been chosen as one of nine new projects to lead the roll-out of e-health records.
Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon today announced the Sydney St Vincent’s and Mater Hospitals consortium comprising of local doctors and IT providers had been selected as an e-health lead implementation site for the Gillard Government’s $467 million national personally controlled electronic health records (PCEHR) project.
“The team will develop an e-health system that allows doctors to see their patients’ medical history and deliver a higher standard of care,” said Member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek.
“Patients can be confident that health practitioners such as GPs, Specialists and Nurses who are chosen by the patient, will be able to view their medical history.
“This will help provide faster diagnosis and cut down on medication errors as the doctor will be able to see the patient’s medication history including any allergies.
St Vincent’s and Mater Health Sydney are leading the project that will that include St Vincent’s Clinic; Eastern Sydney Division of General Practice; South East Sydney Division of General Practice; Murrumbidgee General Practice Network; and Health IT providers Emerging Systems; Smart Health Solutions; Precedence Health Care; Trilogy Information Solutions; and University of New South Wales Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research.
Member for Kingsford Smith Peter Garrett said this project will improve clinical communication across the local health community through the delivery of e-health records,” Mr Garrett said.
“This means seamless care through the patient journey from your specialist referral from your GP, to your medication requirements in hospital to your at home care, it will all be recorded and collaboratively discussed with health providers.”
Minister Roxon said e-health is one of the critical elements of the Gillard Government’s efforts to modernise our health system through national health reform.
“In these nine projects we can see practical examples of how e-health can improve heath care for patients,” Minister Roxon said.
“Most importantly, these projects can help to reduce the chance of medical errors and save patients from having to repeat their health history every time they visit a new doctor.
“These projects will lead the roll-out of e-health records for a wide range of patients, including Indigenous Australians in the NT, WA and SA, chronic disease patients in Western Sydney and aged care and palliative patients in NSW, the ACT and Tasmania.
“With more than 90 applications received, it’s clear there is a high level of support for e-health. These nine new sites will add to our existing three lead implementation sites that are busy working to implement their program.
“Our 12 e-health lead implementation sites are aiming to have more than half a million Australians enrolled before the national launch of e-health records next year.
The Gillard Government’s is investing up to $55 million in these nine lead implementation sites as a part of its overall investment of $467 million so that patients will be able to sign up for a personally controlled electronic health records from 1 July 2012.
Details of the lead implementation sites and the National e-Health Conference Report can be downloaded from www.yourhealth.gov.au.
For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7220
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