Health Info Management Award Winners Announced

Health Information Management Award Winners Announced

The creation of pocket personal computers for Northland district nurses is one of the innovative ideas that has won recognition at one of the country's leading health information management awards.

This year, four winners have been announced for the Sharing Excellence in Health and Disability Information Management Award, which is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Health and Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ).

The winners are the Northland District Health Board, the New Zealand Organisation For Rare Disorders, Telecom and Technical Advisory Services, which is an information provider for several central North Island District Health Boards (DHBs).

In Northland, district nurses are now able to record patient information electronically while they are away from base working in the community. This has vastly improved efficiency and reduced the time spent on paperwork.

Telecom has been recognised for establishing the New Zealand Telepaediatric Service, a non-profit phone link which gives children in remote areas access to specialist healthcare advice via telephone conferencing.

The New Zealand Organisation For Rare Disorders won its award for establishing a world-class source of on-line information for the patients and families of people with rare diseases.

And Technical Advisory Services, which produces reports and information for DHBs from the Waikato to Wellington, has received an award for its development of a comprehensive reporting system which ensures health boards receive better value for money from referred services such as laboratory tests.

Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton described the winning innovations as a clear example of New Zealand's advanced technological capabilities.

"New Zealand's ICT capability is now rated very highly around the world," he said. "One stand-out feature is our ability to find innovative solutions to problems. These award - winning products have been developed to enhance the effectiveness of our health system and are the sorts of products that will that will contribute to New Zealand's future economic development."

Mr Anderton said New Zealand was competing at the top end of the market for creative ICT solutions, in a market fed by innovative companies and people.

More detail about the innovations will be revealed on July 27 at the Wellington Convention Centre when Mr Anderton will present the four organisations with their awards at the opening of the HINZ conference, which looks at the impact of new information technologies on the health sector. Winners will be invited to give a presentation on their innovations during the conference and exhibition, which this year has a theme of Towards A Healthy Nation. It runs from July 27 - 29. Ministry of Health Deputy Director-General Corporate and Information Directorate Debbie Chin congratulated the winners on their success.

"These innovations assist clinicians, administrators and other health professionals to make a healthy difference to communities and people," she said.

Groups and organisations entering the awards were judged against criteria measuring the benefits achieved in relevant areas - including level of innovation, clinical, financial, administration and quality improvement.

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