Midcentral District Health Board(MIS100 2009)

By CIO staff | Friday, July 24 2009

2008 ranking: 81

Senior IS executives: Barry Morris, manager information systems — service delivery; and Brian Woolley, manager, information systems — strategy and planning
Report to: General manager corporate services
Size of IS shop: 27

PCs: 1351
Mobile PCs: 168
Terminals: 109
Hand-held devices: 150
Total screens: 1778

Industry: Health and community services
PC environment: Windows XP, Advantage Computers
Server environment: HP, Windows 2008
DBMS: SQL, Oracle, Reality X, Pervasive SQL
Address: Ruahine Street, Palmerston North
Website: www.midcentraldhb.govt.nz
Key IS projects this year: Digital radiology (PACS); PBX replacement (Unified Communications); patient management system replacement; data network upgrade; contracts management system; business intelligence.

Mid Central District Health Board provides healthcare services for a large and diverse region. This includes a population of around 160,000 who live within the Manawatu, Palmerston North City, and Tararua, Horowhenua and Kapiti districts.

Barry Morris, IS manager service delivery, says MidCentral DHB wants to implement information systems that are available across both the region and the continuum of healthcare. Towards this, the ICT team is working on unified communications technologies and solutions, and is mid-way through an organisation-wide replacement of legacy PABX systems. Business intelligence application development is also on the agenda this year, along with work on the MDHB’s DR systems. Like many health providers, MDHB realises the power of online channels in health communication and information sharing, and will work on electronic referrals and other e-business initiatives.

Morris says in terms of the ICT budget, MDHB’s largest investments are for the replacement of its legacy patient administration system — in collaboration with six other DHBs — work on business intelligence applications and PABX replacement. Most ICT functions are conducted in-house, but PC maintenance is outsourced to Advantage Computers. MDHB’s WAN network extends to Gisborne, Hastings, Levin, Napier, Dannevirke, Feilding, Wanganui and New Plymouth, with the campus network running gigabit Ethernet.