2006

iSOFT successfully delivers to 29 hospitals in one weekend

The roll-out of iSOFT’s i.PM patient management solution to Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) in NSW continued with 17 new sites going live. Calvary Healthcare Group at Hurstsville NSW becomes the ninth site within Little Company of Mary Health Care to go live with i.PM, completing phase two of its national roll-out.

In New Zealand, i.PM was installed and went live at three hospitals and one health centre as part of the contract with the West Coast District Health Board.

Waikato District Health Board in New Zealand was supplied with new advanced clinical functionality to its HealthViews electronic health record system for 250 users across seven sites to produce detailed clinical documents. Also, 500 users within the Mental Health ‘SMART’ programme can now access the documents in line with its goal to improve reporting of mental health cases across the district.

”This represents a significant commitment of our skill and resource capability over this period of time,” said Nigel Lutton, iSOFT’s Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand. “Given all of the systems went live on time and with high levels of success, it is a testimony to the skill and experience of not only our iSOFT staff, but also the customers that we have worked in partnership with to achieve these milestones.

“This not only demonstrates our significant industry commitment, but also shows the commitment of our customers to achieving healthcare improvement through the smarter use of information technology.”

iSOFT Project Manager Linda Gracie says West Coast DHB was a “dream” site: “I have never worked with customers that were so willing to take responsibility for the project and work hard to achieve their goals. This project was a true collaboration and a joy to work on.”

Wayne Champion, West Coast’s Chief Financial Manager, agrees. ”The dedication and professionalism of iSOFT’s people is impressive,” he said. “The company constantly hits some very demanding project milestones.”

The latest roll-outs at GWAHS bring the total number of hospitals there using i.PM to 35, with another 18 due shortly. The area health service is confident it will see the benefits of its IT investments in continuing decreases in the time patients spend waiting for elective surgery or emergency department treatment.

“Ready access to patient details and theatre appointments, for instance, is vital in minimising waiting times,” said GWAHS Chief Executive Dr Claire Blizard.

Meanwhile, West Coast DHB has also committed to using iSOFT’s clinical systems, with the first implementations due in August.