NSW e-health infrastructure

Public health services in NSW, including public hospitals, are provided through 15 Local Health Districts (LHDs), and 3 specialist networks, each of which operates as a statutory body with a governing Board. Service delivery assurance is managed via individual Service Agreements such as this. NSW also has 10 Primary Health Networks, governed and managed through individual agreements with the Commonwealth Department of Health. The Local Health Districts are responsible for NSW's 223 public hospitals.

eHealth NSW is an administrative shared-services unit supporting the LHDs and NSW Health more broadly. Key programs managed by eHealth NSW include the HealtheNet clinical portal and gateway, statewide EMR roll-out, statewide electronic Medications Management (eMM) roll-out, statewide ICU system (eRIC).

NSW Health released an e-health Strategic Plan 2016-2026 in May 2016.

“Currently, eHealth‐enabling systems are at different levels of maturity with respect to their implementation to support secure messaging and eReferral management between LHDs and primary care. The early adoption of secure messaging solutions and eReferral management workflows must also support existing channels for cross‐organisational information exchange, including paper, fax and telephone communications.”

“NSW Health will focus on establishing consistent statewide enablers for shared care tools, integration with point of care information systems and national health infrastructure solutions.”

Horizon 1 : Building Consistent Foundations (Years 1–3)

“Horizon 1 aims to mature NSW Health’s current ICT footprint to deliver consistent foundational capabilities across the state. Core digital systems, services development, infrastructure and network standards development will create a consistent and reliable ICT environment which allows our people to have access to accurate information for improved decision‐making, leading to safer and higher‐quality healthcare.”

Horizon 2 : Integration (Years 1–7)

“In Horizon 2, the consistent technology foundations will be leveraged to create an integrated environment where patients benefit from strong partnerships that provide coordinated and integrated health services.”