WA's digital future Work has begun to digitally connect the many parts that make up the WA Health system.
James Knox reports
A roadmap for the Western Australian health system has been outlined in the WA Health Digital Strategy 2020-2030 and features a plethora of initiatives planned for not only the system, but also clinicians, and ultimately, health consumers. The impetus for the strategy came from the final report of the Sustainable Health Review, which was published in April, 2019. The report recommended a long-term digital strategy including a 10-year digitisation plan. According to Judith Stewart, Executive Director of Strategy, Policy and Planning at the WA Department of Health, the strategy follows on from the digitisation plan and a “vision for how to use
innovation and technology to transform the health services and the way that they deliver care over the next decade.” The strategy has been developed with a clearly defined personcentred focus to ensure the outcomes are beneficial for the end-users by including them in the development and implementation of the proposed initiatives, Judith told Medical Forum. The person-centred approach encompasses six key areas of focus to be integrated into all aspects of the strategy: empowered consumers; informed clinicians; optimised performance; supported workforce; enhanced public health; and embedded innovation and research. Crucial to the strategy’s success, says Judith, is a unified electronic medical record (EMR) for WA Health and it is currently in the early stages of mobilisation. The EMR will be bespoke to WA with the intention
of interoperability with My Health Record.
In the cloud Implementation will take place in four distinct phases, with Judith emphasising the importance of the first, foundation phase, which will focus on modernising and increasing the capability of the information and communication infrastructure, as part of the HealthNext project. In essence, a migration from physical to cloud-based infrastructure. While the strategy can be read as a document long on ambitious objectives and possibly risk alienating those with little interest or aptitude in technology, by it taking a person-centred approach, the enduser’s digital capability is a priority across the board, Judith said. “We have some great expertise in clinical execution, but we need to make sure that all of our staff are supported and enabled to provide modern, digital care, so we need to
The Big Six Empowered consumers: ‘Improve equity of access and empower consumers to become true partners in their own care.’
Supported workforce: ‘Support and foster workforce engagement through connectivity and communication.’
Informed clinicians: ‘Ensure clinicians are informed to make effective decisions that support high value health care.’
Enhanced public health: ‘Protect, maintain, promote and improve the health of individuals and their community through a combination of safeguards, policies and programs.’
Optimised performance: ‘Optimise health system performance with user-centricity, modernisation and interoperability.’
Embedded innovation and research: ‘Embed innovation and research into core business and promote the adoption of rapidly-evolving technologies.’
16 | FEBRUARY 2020
MEDICAL FORUM | INNOVATION & TRENDS ISSUE
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