MIL OSI – Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement
Headline: Canterbury DHB’s use of data lauded in business report
Canterbury DHB’s use of data to help improve patient care is being hailed as a fine example of the way the public sector could better use data to deliver improved services with limited resources, reports New Zealand Doctor.
The DHB features as a case study in the report Data driven innovation in New Zealand, commissioned by the Innovation Partnership made up of Business NZ, Chorus, Crown Fibre Holdings, Google NZ, the Retailers Association, Internet NZ and Xero.
The report looks at how the DHB used patient data to help reduce the number of admissions at Christchurch Hospital, and the development of HealthOne, a single electronic patient record integrating patients’ hospital records with information from general practices, pharmacies, laboratories and other providers, to provide better care.
$2.4 billion value using data in NZ last year
Undertaken by the Sapere Research Group and Covec, the report estimates that last year New Zealanders shared $2.4 billion of value by using data to make smarter decisions and develop new products and services.
But the report also says much more could be done if more public and private organisations made better use of data available to them.
Data help keep 30,000 people out of hospital over past year
Canterbury DHB planning and funding manager Carolyn Gullery says in a media release using data to identify and predict trends and plan has been fundamental to changing Canterbury’s health system.
Seven years ago Christchurch Hospital was in “gridlock” several times over the winter and using data the DHB found large number of winter admissions were being driven by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), she says.
Better organisation and co-ordination of care of these patients has resulted in a reduction in admissions to 30 per cent below the national average, while improving health outcomes.
“In the past year the Canterbury health system has kept almost 30,000 people out of hospital through initiatives such as the community rehabilitation enablement support team and acute demand management service,” Ms Gullery says in the media release.
“Good data, much of it in real time, has played a huge role in this achievement.”
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