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Australia's first fully integrated digital hospital is to be built at Hervey Bay on Queensland's Fraser Coast by UnitingCare Queensland with the ...
Australia’s first fully integrated digital hospital is to be built at Hervey Bay on Queensland’s Fraser Coast by Uniting Care Queensland with the support of Federal Government funding.
The state of the art “hospital of the future” will be supported by the Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF) which will provide $47 million towards the estimated $87.5 million construction and e-health costs for St Stephen’s Hospital.
Scheduled to open in August 2014, UnitingCare Health’s private 96-bed hospital will not only provide vital medical and surgical services and an unparalleled model of patient care but will also be the first to showcase the future of healthcare.
The project will demonstrate how technology can transform the healthcare experience for patients and clinicians, Richard Royle, Executive Director of UnitingCare Health said.
“Uniting Care Health has always been committed to providing first class treatment and care and consistently redevelops and refurbishes its facilities but this project at Hervey Bay will be transformational,” Richard said.
“The advanced wireless technologies will generate efficiencies, improve safety and clinical outcomes and create higher levels of patient and clinician satisfaction.”
“All medical records, X-ray and pathology results will be accessible by doctors and nurses anywhere in the hospital whether at the bedside, or remotely on tablets, mobile phones, laptops or mobile computers on wheels, as well as at nurses’ stations.”
“For the first time clinicians will have information at their fingertips which will enable faster and more efficient decision making,” he said.
General Manager of St Stephen’s Hospital, Leanne Tones, said that the project was a unique opportunity to provide a flagship hospital, not only for Hervey Bay but for the whole of Australia.
“To be the first to build a fully integrated digital hospital in the nation is a privilege and an enormous responsibility,” Leanne said.
“We are putting together a prestigious e-health project team, sourced from the best available in Australia and complemented by leaders in the field from the USA , including Cerner, a major global provider of healthcare IT solutions,” she said.
Anne Cross, CEO UnitingCare Queensland, said that the project aligns with the strategic vision of UnitingCare Queensland.
“An important element of our strategic vision is around being a leading organisation in person centred care – providing safe and high quality services that clearly prioritise the needs of people,” she said.
“We also have a strong focus on embracing and continuously investing in technology. This project clearly demonstrates our commitment to these important objectives.”
“We are excited about the potential linkages this project enables between St Stephen’s and our other UnitingCare service groups on the Fraser Coast – UnitingCare Community and Blue Care – allowing us to improve our broader services to the community,” she said.
Jill O’Brien, Director of Nursing, at St Stephen’s Hervey Bay said that the digital system will mean all electronic medical records, nurse call systems, phone systems and patient medical devices such as blood pressure machines and infusions pumps would be integrated.
“This will mean the development of an entirely new model of care with better accessibility to patient records and other information enabling improved sharing of information and results with patients and less time wasted trying to find other staff or equipment,” Jill said.
“The digital capability of St Stephen’s Hervey Bay and the corresponding change and innovation in work practices is an exciting challenge for our clinicians,” she said.
UnitingCare Health is a service group of UnitingCare which provides quality and compassionate care to more than 14 000 people every day of the year and also includes UnitingCare Community and Blue Care.