Page 3592 - Week 11 - Thursday, 16 November 2006
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MS GALLAGHER: The question relates to a new patient administration system that is known affectionately in the hospital as PAS. It was launched or switched on or it came into being in the hospital around 18 September; so it has not been operational for months.
Mr Smyth: That is two.
MS GALLAGHER: Two months, yes; eight weeks or so. It is probably fair to say that there have been some implementation issues with PAS. I was briefed on it a number of times before it was implemented on the 18th and have been since and there have been areas where there have been concerns, mainly by staff. My understanding is that the system itself is working pretty well, that there are no bugs in the system, but that there are problems with how it has been rolled out and how it is actually managed day-by-day in the hospital.
PAS will control everything that happens at the hospital from patient administration to bookings, admissions, scheduling and billing functions. The main areas of difficulty have been in adapting workplace practice to the new system and slowness in the system’s performance and I am aware that there have been a number of difficulties with outpatients and booking processes. Extra staff have been located in areas where there have been significant issues. My understanding is that they are being worked through bit by bit.
I am also advised that in implementing a system change this large there were always expected to be some issues with implementation. The problems have been different in the sense that they are not problems with the program. I am not an IT person, but the problems are not with the new IT system. The problems are with how it is actually working day by day in the hospital. The chief information officer at ACT Health and his team have been working extremely long hours to make sure that any problems that are identified are fixed as quickly as possible so that they do not put any further workload on staff at the hospital.
I am advised that priority has gone to the areas where it needed to go first, where there were major disruptions or major difficulties with staff and that, as they are resolving those issues, they are dealing with a backlog of other issues and concerns of staff. I was briefed on this subject a week ago or so and there were several weeks to go to finalise all the implementation issues. I am happy to offer a briefing on the whole system, if Mr Smyth wants one.
MR SMYTH: Minister, I might take you up on that offer. Can you explain to the Assembly why hospital staff have now been forced to maintain a manual system for management of patients due to deficiencies in performance of the new patient administration system?
MS GALLAGHER: That question goes to what I was saying. I am aware of a situation, I think in the Capital Region Cancer Service, where that has been required for some time. I think that has finished now. I think there were issues between staff and the interface and how it actually fitted what was going on.
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