E-Health benefits spread into Western Sydney

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PDF printable version of E-Health benefits spread into Western Sydney (PDF 18 KB)

29 March 2011

Mums and bubs, Indigenous Australians and aged, chronic and complex disease patients in Western Sydney are set to benefit from a new e-health project.

Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon today announced that Greater Western Sydney e-Health Consortium has been selected as one of nine new e-health lead implementation sites for the Gillard Government’s $467 million national personally controlled electronic health records (PCEHR) project.

“E-health is one of the critical elements of the Gillard Government’s efforts to modernise our health system through national health reform,” Minister Roxon said.

Member for Chifley, Ed Husic MP, said that today’s announcement is a win for Western Sydney.

“E-health records will help provide faster diagnosis, cut down on medication errors and give patients peace of mind as doctors will be able to see the patient’s medication history,” Mr Husic said.

“I’m extremely pleased that residents in Western Sydney will benefit from being amongst the first in the country to have an e-health record,” said Michelle Rowland MP, Member for Greenway.

“This project is going to mean e-health records will be accessible to doctors across different health settings in different geographical areas. So a patient visiting the Children’s Hospital at Westmead will know that their GP in Western Sydney, for example, will have access to up-to-date clinical records for their child,” Ms Rowland said.

Member for Lindsay, David Bradbury MP said the project will include secure messaging, eReferral programs and a medical imaging repository.

“Importantly this project will uniquely leverage previous technology investments from Sydney West Are Health Service and Westmead Children’s Hospital to transition into a national e-health records system,” Mr Bradbury said.

Member for Parramatta, Julie Owens, explained the Greater Western Sydney e-Health consortium is a collaborative team consisting of NSW Health, Sydney West Area Health Service, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, WentWest Division of General Practice, Nepean Division of General Practice, Blue Mountains GP Network Incorporated, Hawkesbury-Hills Division of General Practice and Balance! Healthcare who operate the Blue Mountains GP Super Clinic.

“Patients will benefit from the large number of health care providers involved in this project and that’s good news for Western Sydney,” Ms Owens said.

Minister Roxon said a key feature of these projects is that they 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 electronic 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 and the ACT,” Ms Roxon said.

“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 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