Ambitious plans for the new Dunedin Hospital to be the country’s first "digital hospital" took a step forward yesterday after four firms were named to design the necessary infrastructure.
Christchurch firm Inde Technology, national civil engineering consultancy WSP, Auckland IT consultancy Torque IP, and Sydney development firm Lendlease have joined forces on the initial design phase of the project.
Increased use of digital technology is a major feature of the new hospital project, and last year the Southern District Health Board signed off on a $215million digital plan, spread over 10 years, to upgrade its equipment and staff to be ready for when the new hospital opens.
The scope for the initial design phase includes network design, cloud infrastructure, telephone systems and audio-visual equipment.
"This isn’t about employing technology for technology’s sake," Inde chief technology officer Rik Roberts said.
"This is about changing the way healthcare is delivered to improve health outcomes and enable innovation for the benefit of patients, while also giving hospital workers better experiences."
Planned features include a system where patients’ and visitors’ smartphones can communicate with the building so that signage will respond and show people how to get to their destination.
Inde already has a Dunedin office and its southern employees regarded the hospital build as a major opportunity, regional director Jonathan Elliott said.
"We can actually see the site from our office, which brings it home that we need to create something amazing that all Otago residents can be proud of, so our job is to help our partners and clients understand what’s possible."
SDHB digital transformation director Lance Elder said the brief for the design was for a thoughtful, modern system which delivered better health outcomes for patients and better support for clinicians.
Although the full hospital is not intended to open for a decade, careful planning was needed well ahead of time to ensure the right IT systems were put in place, Mr Elder said.
Piling work is about to start on the smaller of the two main buildings in the central city campus: the Ministry of Health is yet to lodge consent applications for above-ground construction work.
