AUGUST 2014
Contents
Chief Executive’s message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Packaging opens new frontier . . . . . . . . . 3
New training for Food staff . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
NEPT joins
HealthShare NSW (continued) . . . . . . . . . 5
HealthShare
news
NEPT joins
HealthShare NSW
New program enables staff
to be more proactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Vale Diane Sawtell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Celebrating staff excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Introducing our
Safety Ambassadors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9
A wealth of wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-13
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[email protected]
L-R: Booking Officers Hannah McDougall, Karen Wan Lum (seated) and Maree Mitchell at
the NEPT’s newly opened Greater Metropolitan Booking and Dispatch Hub in Parramatta
HealthShare NSW has welcomed into
the fold the newest member of its family
– the Non-Emergency Patient Transport
(NEPT) booking and scheduling service,
which improves patient flow through
hospital emergency departments and
increases the availability of ambulances
for life-saving and critical incidents.
Under the leadership of State Manager
Jennifer Van Cleef, NEPT’s new Greater
Metropolitan Booking and Dispatch
Hub has been operating out of the
Octagon building in Phillip Street,
Parramatta, since 24 May. It formally
joined HealthShare NSW on 1 July.
“When you think about what’s at the
heart of HealthShare NSW – providing
seamless delivery of shared services
to the health system – then NEPT
sits neatly within the organisation,”
said Jennifer.
“We, too, are a support service
that’s very much required by LHDs.
NEPT provides patient transport
for health facilities to achieve flow
through their hospitals, so it’s a really
fundamental part of the health system.
And, given the other business partners
that sit within HealthShare NSW,
we’re a good fit.”
Continued page 5
eHealth NewsNews
HealthShare
August 2014
Chief Executive’s message
The HealthShare NSW and
eHealth NSW Expo will take place
on the 15th of this month and
anticipation is running high for our
organisations’ flagship event, now
in its fifth year.
Thanks to unprecedented demand,
there will be more delegates
than ever attending our Expo,
which will feature guest speakers
Mark Bouris from TV’s Celebrity
Apprentice, as well as Health
Minister Jillian Skinner and NSW
Health Secretary Dr Mary Foley.
report that work is well underway
to turn these words into
direct action.
activity in “Our services: Providing
quality services and systems that
deliver value for our customers”.
Our organisation has also been
bolstered by the recruitment of
Krishna Panyam last month in the
newly created role of Continuous
Improvement Manager for
HealthShare NSW.
I have no doubt Krishna will bring
valuable experience and knowledge
to our organisation, helping us to
achieve our vision to be a trusted
and valued partner enabling
excellent healthcare in NSW.
Krishna is a business improvement
specialist whom I have charged
with helping us to uncover
process-driven ways of working
more efficiently, and entrenching a
culture of continuous improvement
across the organisation, which
is another of the goals we set
ourselves in our Strategic Plan.
On that note, may I congratulate
all of the business lines for helping
to achieve a strong financial result
in 2013/14. I look forward to
this work delivering some terrific
opportunities for even greater
growth in the current financial
year and beyond.
His role will impact on all three
of our focus areas, with particular
Conrad Groenewald
Chief Executive
HealthShare NSW
Expo 2014 will focus its
attention on Maximising
Partnerships – Enhancing
Delivery, which is a theme that’s
Delivery
been emphasised by our senior
teams during a recent round of
customer engagement meetings.
As outlined in our recently
released Strategic Plan for
2014-2017, listening to our
customers – and partnering with
them to deliver an outstanding
customer experience – is one
of our organisation’s three main
focus areas. I’m pleased to
Page 2
The Executive Management Team (EMT) held one of its July meetings at the new
NEPT Booking Hub – many thanks to State Manager Jennifer Van Cleef
(pictured centre) for hosting us. We welcome Jennifer and her
dedicated team to the HealthShare NSW family
HealthShare News
August 2014
Packaging opens new frontier
In the latest win for the Packaging
Improvement Project, ACT Health will adopt
HealthShare NSW’s systems to ensure hospital
patients can access their food more easily.
Public hospitals in Victoria, Western Australia, Northern
Territory and Queensland and some private hospitals and
aged care facilities as well as motels and hotels are also
switching to our redesigned products.
The ACT joins Health Departments in Tasmania and
Victoria who, along with NSW Health, either already
do or soon will make accessible packaging a
procurement requirement.
The program has had wide-ranging success across the
whole community. Ease of access to food is not just a
problem for people in hospital, says Carmen Rechbauer,
Food and Hotel Services Manager.
“This move significantly helps us to encourage
manufacturers to make the design changes we need
to ensure all our patients can easily open meals, especially
those who are frail, aged or unwell,” said Zdenka Fuller,
Packaging Project Manager.
“Many elderly people living at home may have restricted
dexterity, which makes food packaging a problem for
them as well,” said Carmen.
“Manufacturers can see there is a significant business
advantage in making their products easy to open.”
HealthShare NSW provides support for manufacturers
to improve their packaging, and a range of easier
to open items are now being served.
“Working with Arthritis Australia and the Georgia
Tech Research Institute in the US, we have developed
an innovative accessibility assessment tool and design
guidelines to help manufacturers redesign their products
for patient wellbeing,” said Zdenka.
“As many of the food items we serve in hospital were
developed for the commercial market, the changes that we
make to these products are improving the lives of people
in the community, supporting the nutrition outcomes of
people in the home as well as in hospital.”
Improving the accessibility of products served in hospital
and purchased in stores has delivered real benefits for
vulnerable people, said Carmen.
“Easily accessible hospital meals promote eating and
contribute to good nutrition outcomes,” she said. “Eating
well at home is a requirement for staying healthy and
independent and limiting hospitalisation.”
Page 3
HealthShare News
August 2014
New training for Food staff
These staff members have been particularly important in
the trial of the new Mobile Menu Entry system, where they
use iPads to select the menu choices with each patient and
electronically submit those choices to the kitchen.
However, up until now many have done their job without
the support of formal qualifications.
HealthShare NSW will provide these staff with a
three-month online training course through TAFE.
By undertaking the three modules, which amounts to
29 hours of course time, the staff members will receive a
statement of attainment and will be well placed to seek
further qualifications.
“We are delighted to be able to offer this training course to
our staff and help them achieve an academic qualification,”
said Carmen Rechbauer, Manager of Food and Hotel Services.
Food Services Assistant Candra Rusli helps a patient with
her meal selection at Mona Vale Hospital on
Sydney’s northern beaches
HealthShare NSW is offering Food Services staff
who have roles and responsibilities associated
with nutrition care and patient menu selection the
chance to attain formal accreditation through TAFE.
“We value the work of our Food Services staff and we are
proud to support dietitians from the Local Health Districts
who care for patients.
“Providing formal training for Diet Aides helps us meet our
obligations under NSW Health’s Nutrition Care Policy and
ensures we continue to improve the quality of the service
we provide to patients and to hospitals.”
Diet Aides perform a number of
important tasks in hospitals,
including menu distribution and
collection, as well as assisting
dietitians to maintain high
standards of nutritional care
for patients.
They may discuss the dietary needs
of patients with clinicians, talk to
patients about their food choices,
assist with the planning of menus
for individual patients and help
ensure food is hygienically and
correctly prepared and attractively
presented. They maintain diet records,
assist with the implementation of a
nutrition care plan for patients under
the guidance of dietitians and use
computers for data entry and retrieval.
Page 4
hssevents.health.nsw.gov.au/healthshareexpo
Friday 15 August 2014
Guest speakers
include Mark Bouris, Professor
Gary Sturgess, Dr Mary Foley and
NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner.
Registration is free to
all NSW Health employees.
Check the website for details.
Rosehill Gardens
Rosehill
Registration opens at 8am
Expo Open and
Welcome at 9am
HealthShare News
August 2014
NEPT joins HealthShare NSW
From page 1
Working side by side with NSW Ambulance, NEPT’s Greater
Metropolitan Booking Hub coordinates all bookings the
length and breadth of NSW for the NSW Ambulance
‘green’ fleet. From mid-August it will commence the
transition of coordinating bookings of the NEPT fleets
managed by Local Health Districts.
The Greater Metropolitan Booking and Dispatch Hub has
certainly proved to be a hive of activity. Since 24 May, the
Hub has completed more than 20,000 patient transports.
In the month of June alone, the Hub received 9,623 calls
and managed 10,173 transports. It is open from 5.30am to
midnight, 365 days a year. Monday to Friday are its busiest
days, handling around 450 transports per day with 55
Ambulance Patient Transport Crews.
Importantly, NEPT relieves the pressure on the Ambulance
Emergency ‘red fleet’ – in June, the red fleet undertook 200
fewer non-emergency transports than it did in June 2013,
freeing it up for life-saving and critical incidents, said Jennifer.
“LHDs have their own NEPT fleets that are currently
coordinated locally,” Jennifer said. “Centralising the
bookings and scheduling functions will improve the
efficiency and timeliness of service across the system. The
wider part of this reform is that by Christmas every Greater
Metropolitan LHD will transition their fleet to be dispatched
from the NEPT Hub.”
Green and white fleets, which are based at a multitude
of ambulance stations across Sydney, are owned by NSW
Ambulance and dispatched from the Hub. The drivers are
Patient Transport Officers employed by NSW Ambulance.
NEPT employs 29 full-time operational staff and seven staff
in the state management team, and Jennifer commended
every one of them for helping to achieve what she called
“a reasonably seamless transition”.
“The biggest challenge has been the steep learning
curve of new staff learning new systems, but they have
all performed marvellously well and are still learning very
much on the job,” said Jennifer. “I’m also proud that in
11 weeks we have not had a single IT failure.”
Jennifer paid tribute to eHealth NSW Technical Project
Officer Jon Bailey, and the eHealth NSW team led by
David Bell who built the telephone system, as well as
HealthShare NSW Accommodation Manager Alison Muir –
all of whom “went above and beyond” in their efforts to
get the Greater Metropolitan Booking Hub up and running.
Page 5
HealthShare News
August 2014
New program enables staff
to be more proactive
EnableNSW has embarked on an exciting program that aims
to engage and empower its 90-strong staff by giving them
the tools they need to be more proactive when it comes to
problem-solving and decision-making in the workplace.
Guided by consultants from the multinational training
services company Kepner-Tregoe (KT), EnableNSW staff are
being schooled in project management and in advanced
tools for problem-solving and decision-making.
Part of the KT work includes supporting EnableNSW staff
to implement four process improvement projects using
the KT tools in the clinical, customer service, finance and
warehouse areas.
Importantly, the program aims to support all three focus
areas of HealthShare NSW’s recently released Strategic Plan
for 2014-2018.
Of EnableNSW’s staff, some 30 of them – the majority of
whom are from customer service – applied to be project
leads, with 10 selected for training and four of these
chosen to become project leads. These staff were trained
in KT Problem Analysis, a systematic method to analyse a
problem and understand the root cause of the issue rather
than making assumptions.
EnableNSW Manager Bronwyn Scott is already starting to
see this project pay dividends, with staff members coming
to her off their own bat with ideas to enhance the level of
service EnableNSW provides to people living with disability
and chronic illness.
“One particular staff member wrote me a fabulous and
very smart document proposing some changes to the way
we connect with consumers and clinicians, and every single
one of her ideas is do-able,” Bronwyn said.
“Staff are really getting behind the project – it’s very
empowering to them and I’m loving seeing the enthusiasm
it’s generating across the board. The even more wonderful
thing is that it’s changing the way we work for the better.”
Vale Diane Sawtell
EnableNSW staff are mourning the
sudden loss of a much-loved staff
member, Diane Sawtell, who passed away
at the beginning of July. She was 49.
As well as being a cherished mother
to Ben, Matthew and Danica, who
also works at EnableNSW, Diane was
“a special lady and a dedicated staff
member who knew that what she did
on a daily basis made a real difference
to people’s lives,” said EnableNSW
Manager Bronwyn Scott.
Diane was a member of the
New Requests Team at EnableNSW,
processing requests for essential
equipment such as special beds,
wheelchairs and other equipment which
Page 6
people who’d had a recent spinal or
brain injury needed to leave hospital
and live at home with their families.
Her work embodied the qualities for
which Diane was known; namely, her
caring nature, her focus on family and
the way in which she always put first
the wellbeing of others.
Danica paid tribute to her mum as
“a very special person who was
always happy and refused to let the
little things get her down”.
We extend our sincerest condolences
to Danica and her brothers, as well
as Diane’s large circle of extended
family and friends.
HealthShare News
August 2014
Celebrating staff excellence
Recipients of the latest round of Staff Excellence Awards
have been announced, with Melissa Watson taking the
individual prize and the Work Health and Safety team
awarded the team prize.
TEAM WINNER: Work Health and Safety, Workforce
Having both excelled in the category of Consistent
Achievement, Melissa and the WHS team will soon be
presented with framed certificates and $150 and $500
respectively, courtesy of sponsor First State Super.
INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Melissa Watson,
Corporate Events and Communications Officer
For Melissa, the shoe is very much on the other foot.
Managing the flawless organisation and execution of
HealthShare NSW and eHealth NSW’s biggest public
relations event, Expo, and the Service Awards that
accompany it, Melissa spends much of her time
honouring other people’s achievements.
Last month, however,
Melissa was named as a
winner of a Staff Excellence
Award for her great work
managing the entire Expo
event, from conception,
branding, site location,
program development,
speaker coordination,
sound and lighting, booth
organisation, staffing,
bump-in and bump-out
and sponsorship.
“Of particular note is Melissa’s exceptional management
of sponsors,” said Communications Manager,
Bernadette Keeffe.
“After last year’s event, several sponsors called me
to say how happy they were with the value they
received from the event and signed up a year in advance
to continue their relationship with Expo. Sponsorship
revenues are up 30 per cent over last year and booths
sold out 10 weeks out from the event – very rare
for any event and a testament to Melissa’s tactful,
warm and professional approach to customer
service and event management.”
Led by Medical Director Dr Anne Mok, the Work Health and
Safety (WHS) team transitioned to Workforce in late 2012,
establishing a new program of work, a new structure and
fresh commitments to the Executive to reduce over time our
workers’ compensation liability, streamline processes, ensure
excellent linkages across the organisation, enhance our focus
on workplace health and employee wellbeing, and give
visibility to WHS performance and reporting.
It has certainly been a busy 18 months for the WHS team,
which initiated many of these initiatives in HealthShare
NSW for the first time. The team was restructured into four
new units with clear and specific roles: Workplace Safety,
Health and Wellbeing, Injury and Claims Management, and
WHS Operational Support.
Importantly, the WHS team introduced the Business Partner
model so that every business line and manager have a key
contact on workplace safety and injury.
Workforce Director Paul Gavel said the team had achieved
much, including safety messaging and behavioural
change through the Think Safe. Work Safe. Live Safe.
campaign; developing and commencing an internal audit
program and safety checklist; and overhauling the nonwork-related illness and injury management process.
Moreover, it has introduced Safety Month in October;
introduced the wellbeing calendar with themed monthly
health messages and campaign; and introduced a Return
To Work Program, with a focus on returning injured
employees to work as quickly as possible.
Page 7
HealthShare News
August 2014
Introducing our
As part of its
campaign, HealthShare NSW
has enhanced its Safety
Ambassador program in a
bid to prevent staff from
being injured while at work
so they can lead happy,
healthy and productive
lives outside of work.
The program works by
recognising staff who take
responsibility for their own
safety in the workplace
and, in doing so, ensure a
safe environment for their
fellow workers.
Here, we introduce a
handful of the 35-strong
(and growing) team of
Ambassadors who are helping
to make HealthShare NSW
workplaces even safer
across the state.
At Orange
Hospital, Tina Gillette
reminds everyone to do
Tibooburra
things in a safe manner
Bourke
At Hillston
Hospital, Melissa
Jennings identifies and
reports hazards and always
encourages safety
in the workplace
Wilcannia
Cobar
Broken Hill
Menindee
Ivanhoe
Lake Cargellig
Hillston
Wentworth
Balranald
At Leeton
Hospital, Hospital
Assistant Melissa Gill
always reminds her
fellow workers to
work safely
Gri
Hay
Jerilderie
Deniliquin
Barham
At Wagga Wagga
Linen Service, Chris
Hill responds
to hazards
straight away
Page 8
HealthShare News
August 2014
Safety Ambassadors
Tweed
Murwillumbah
Nimbin Mullumbimby
Kyogle
Byron
Lismore
Ballina
Urbanville
At Tamworth Linen
Service,
Blake Hema
Goodooga
has a passion for safety,
Lightning Ridge
delivering
toolbox talks and
Collarenebri
assisting in investigations
ofBrewarrina
workplace incidents
Tenterfield
Moree
Warialda
Bingara
Wee Waa
Narromine
Dubbo
Parkes
Urana
Culcairn
Cessnock
Canowindra
Cootamundra
Blayney
Oberon
Cowra
Young
Nelson Bay Tomaree
Newcastle (Calvary Mater, John Hunter,
Royal Newcastle, John Hunter Children)
Bathurst
Boorowa
Murrumburrah
-Harden
Yass
Gundagai
Wagga Wagga
Henty
Maitland
As a member of
the Manual Handling
Committee, Vicki McQueen
displays a genuine interest in and
passion for WHS throughout
Belmont Hospital
Orange/Bloomfield
Eugowra
Junee
Lockhart
Kurri Kurri
Mudgee
Cudal
Grenfell
Coolamon
Denman
Molong
Forbes
Narrandera
Taree/Manning
Gloucester
Dungog
Bulahdelah
Singleton
Muswellbrook
Rylstone
Trundle
Leeton
Gulgong
Peak Hill
Temora
Port Macquarie
Scone
Merriwa
Dunedoo
Wellington
Tullamore
iffith
Kempsey
Werris Creek
Quirindi
Coolah
Gilgandra
Trangie
Wyalong
Tamworth
Murrurundi/Wilson
Warren
Condobolin
Macksville
Walcha
Coonabarabran
Nyngan
At Rankin Park
Hospital, Margaret Olsen
is proactive when it comes
to WHS and guides other
staff to work safely
Coffs Harbour
Armidale
Manilla
Gunnedah
Baradine
Gulargambone
Grafton
Guyra
Barraba
Boggabri
Coonamble
Glen Innes
Tingha
Narrabri
go
Maclean
Inverell
Walgett
Tottenham
Emmerville/
Vegetable Creek
Portland
Crookwell
Gower Wilsom
LORD HOWE ISLAND
Lithgow
Goulburn
Hawkesbury
Springwood
Blue Mountains
District Anzac Memorial
Nepean
Mount Druitt
Braidwood
Tumut
Batlow
Queanbeyan
Bateman’s Bay
Concord
Repatriation
Balmain
Tumbarumba
Moruya
Coledale
Sydney & Eye Hospital
St Vincents Hospital
Royal Prince Alfred
Albion St
Royal Hospital
for Women
Canterbury
Wollongong
Cooma
Port Kembla
War Memorial
Prince of Wales
Sydney Childrens
Hospital Randwick
Justice Health
Long Bay Hospital
The Forensic Hospital
St George
Calvary Healthcare
Sutherland
Bombala
Delegate Pambula
In Parramatta
Service Centre’s RETS
office, Rosie Vega’s first
priority is the safety
of everyone she
works with
Milton-Ulladulla
Page 9
HealthShare News
August 2014
A wealth of wisdom
26
With 90 per cent of our staff working in frontline
roles in direct support of patients, the spirit
of service is strong in the 7,000+ people who
comprise HealthShare NSW and eHealth NSW.
• R
Y • E • A
• S
So strong, in fact, that almost 1,500 of them have served the
clinicians and patients of NSW Health for unbroken stints of
between 20 and 50 years.
Valentino
Bulaon
These people were commemorated last month during a series of
presentations organised by the Organisational Development team in
Workforce, who introduced the Service Recognition Program for the
first time this year.
Then (in 1988): Storeman,
St George Hospital
Food and Hotel Services staff accounted for a staggering 1,100
awards for multiple decades of service, with some 200 Linen staff,
25 Warehouse staff and 70 eHealth NSW staff also recognised. In
Chatswood, 30 staff were celebrated, while EnableNSW and Service
Centre Westmead each accounted for 10 Service Recognition Awards.
Around 100 staff at Service Centres Parramatta and Newcastle
will be recognised during presentations arranged for this month.
We congratulate all of our long-serving staff, and posed some
of them two questions: What has been your proudest
career achievement? and What is your tip for
maintaining a good work/life balance?
Susan
Isemonger
Then (in 1988):
Field Implementation &
Training Officer
Now: Business Procurement Services’
Manager of Catalogue and
Procurement Information
“My proudest achievement is leading a team of
dedicated cataloguers and system administrators
which contributed to NSW Health receiving
global recognition as a leader in the advanced
implementation of global product identification
standards and procurement information
convergence, through the HealthShare NSW
National Product Catalogue and Supply Chain
Information System Projects.”
“My top tip for maintaining a good work-life
balance is to stay calm amid all adversities at
work and at home and always look for the good
in everything and everyone.”
26
Y •
E • A • R • S
Now:
EMM Project Manager
“My proudest achievement is being able to say I still enjoy my work.
I’ve been outsourced, seconded, restructured, recruited – and even lucky
enough to have been loaned to Micronesia twice – and it’s all just part
of the constant change that is the health system.”
“My tips for maintaining a good work-life balance are do your best at work and
do your best at home and don’t beat yourself up when it doesn’t all go to plan.
And always, always have a holiday planned!”
Page 10
HealthShare News
August 2014
Catherine Lockwood
40
Then (in 1967): Trainee nurse at Royal Alexandra Hospital
for Children at Camperdown
Now: Senior Respiratory Advisor,
Home Respiratory Programs,
EnableNSW
Y •
E • A • R • S
“My proudest achievement is that people
in NSW, no matter where they live, have
equitable access to respiratory equipment
because there are now guidelines to assist
health professionals.”
“My tip for maintaining a good work-life
balance is to spend as much time as
possible with family and friends.”
D a vi d
Peters
27
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22
S
Y • E
• A • R •
Joy Baylis
Then (in 1992):
Relief Cook
Now: Hospital Assistant,
Bellingen Hospital
“My proudest achievement is maintaining a consistently
high standard of work during the many renovations we
have undergone at Bellingen Health Campus, both externally
with new additions to buildings and also internally within
our kitchen.”
“My tip for maintaining a good work-life balance is breathe
deep and let the little things go.”
Shantha Tekkatte
Then (in 1990): Administrative Officer, NSW Health
Now: Financial Accountant, HealthShare NSW
“My proudest achievements are training staff in Oracle Health Requisitioning and
Accounts Payable Queries in 2010-11 and receiving a Staff Excellence Award for
my work as a Finance Officer at the Ministry’s Aboriginal Health Branch.”
24
Y •
E • A • R • S
“My tip for maintaining a good work-life balance is to stay active. I go to the gym every day at lunchtime to keep fit which
also gives me mental stimulation. I also try to leave at a decent hour to reach home by 7pm to have dinner with my family.”
Page 11
HealthShare News
August 2014
25
Keith Ward
Then (in 1989): Operations Manager
Now: Clinical Technology Centre Manager
Y •
E • A • R • S
“My greatest achievements include migrating the old computer room in the Alex Grimson
building on the Liverpool Hospital Western Campus to the new purpose-built
Data Centre on the Liverpool Hospital Eastern campus back in 1994.
This facility is now the eHealth NSW Liverpool Data Centre.”
“Be organised and have good people around you who support your
endeavours, be they work projects or family stuff. Be clear with objectives.
Don’t stress and always try to keep things in perspective.”
Bradley Kilroy
Then (in 1986):
Relief Wardsman
Y
Now: Linen and Theatre Orderly,
Scott Memorial Hospital, Scone
“
27
Everybody
can be great
can serve. You
• E • A • R • S
“My proudest achievement is being able to say that I’ve
always enjoyed my work at Scone Hospital and to have had
the chance to work with so many nice people over the years.”
a college degree to
have to make your
“My top tip for maintaining a good work-life balance is don’t
let the little things get you down – life’s too short.”
agree to serve.
heart full
A soul generated
—Martin Luther
27
Rosanna Vivero
Then (in 1987): Secretary at RPA Hospital
Now: Change Manager, IT Service Management
• S
Y • E • A • R
“My proudest achievement is establishing the Information Services Help Desk
for Sydney South West Area Health Service – and still being recognised for it after many years.”
“My tip for maintaining a good work-life balance is being organised and focused.”
Page 12
HealthShare News
August 2014
36
Olivia DeSousa (pictured below)
Then (in 1978): Admissions Officer, Royal North Shore Hospital
Now: eMR Program Manager
Y •
E • A • R • S
“My proudest achievement is implementing
eMR across the state for NSW Health.”
“My tip for maintaining a good
work-life balance is enjoying and
celebrating the small achievements,
having fun whilst keeping focus on
delivering what the clinicians need
in an Electronic Medical Record.”
Margaret Williams-Smith
because anybody
Then (in 1980): Housekeeping Officer
don’t have to have
Now: Food & Hotel Services Assistant,
Scott Memorial Hospital, Scone
serve. You don’t
“My proudest achievement is that the
hospital is still here for country people.”
subject and verb
”
King Jr (1929-1968)
Y •
E • A
• R • S
“My top tip for maintaining a good
work-life balance is… at my age, I’m just happy I’m still going!”
You only need a
of grace.
by love.
34
26
• S
Y • E • A • R
Jennine
Kimball
Then (in 1988): Computer Operator
Now: Senior Systems Officer, Newcastle
“My proudest achievement is managing and supporting the computer systems
and applications (FMIS and PAS systems) for five rural Area Health Services at
Tamworth Data Centre between 1988 and 2006. In 2003 we successfully
swapped out the entire computer room over one weekend – a massive job
for a very small team functioning on very little sleep.”
“My tip for maintaining a good work-life balance is to stress less!
Be mindful of the moment, give and take, and remember to have fun and
not take things so seriously.”
Page 13
AUGUST 2014
Contents
Chief Executive’s message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II
HETI Online marches on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III
AIX project delivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV
First go-live for AFM Online . . . . . . . . . . . . V
eHealth
news
Tackling the
tyranny of distance
The power of one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V
Tackling the tyranny of
distance (continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI
StaffLink extends its reach . . . . . . . . . . . . VII
Milestone for Application
Performance Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII
Check out our
new website at
www.ehealth.nsw.gov.au
If you’ve
got a story
or feedback
for eHealth News,
please contact Karen Fontaine
on 8644 2246 or email karen.
[email protected]
eHealth NSW is revolutionising the
way it delivers eHealth to the rural
and remote areas that comprise a
massive two-thirds of Australia’s most
populous state, as showcased through
the new Rural eHealth Program.
In collaboration with the six
rural Local Health Districts of
Northern NSW, Mid North
Coast, Western NSW, Far West,
Southern NSW and Murrumbidgee,
eHealth NSW is providing a crossprogram portfolio management of
eHealth solution delivery.
This forms the basis of the Rural
eHealth Program, which recognises
that people living in rural or remote
areas face unique health challenges
such as physical isolation, more
limited access to health services
and a higher risk of injury.
Importantly, it has been recognised
that in order to enable improvements
in rural eHealth, a fundamental
change to the way healthcare is
delivered across rural and remote
NSW is required.
Continued page VI
eHealth News
August 2014
Chief Executive’s message
to the people delivering excellent
healthcare in NSW.
His appointment marks another
important milestone in our Blueprint
for eHealth in NSW launched by
Health Minister Jillian Skinner last
December. Under the Blueprint’s
guidelines, the CCIO’s main role
will be to engage with clinicians to
align informatics and clinical practice
across NSW Health.
Dr Lambert is currently the Medical
Director of Intensive Care at Orange
Health Service. Prior to starting his
medical career as an intern at Royal
Prince Alfred Hospital, Dr Lambert
was a Technical Officer for the
Australian National Liver Transplant
Unit whilst designing electronic
devices and writing medical practice
management software for a health
With our Chief Clinical Information
Officer (CCIO) due to start work
imminently, we have taken yet
another step forward in delivering
our vision of harnessing technology
to improve the quality, delivery,
efficiency and safety of healthcare
for patients.
“
His experience ranges from hands-on
ICT development, through to a long
history of contribution to major
health projects including hospital
redevelopments and clinical IT,
technology and communication
systems, including the Critical Care
Advisory Service in Western NSW
Local Health District.
As outlined in our Blueprint, our
new CCIO will work closely with the
Agency for Clinical Innovation and
the Clinical Excellence Commission
along with his fellow clinicians,
to ensure they have the eHealth
tools they need to provide the
best possible care to patients
and the community.
Dr Lambert’s appointment is
a significant milestone for our
organisation, and I know you will
As a practising clinician with strong
ICT experience, Dr John Lambert is
well suited for this job as we build our
eHealth capacity and improve the support
we provide to the people delivering
excellent healthcare in NSW
Dr John Lambert will assume the
position of eHealth NSW CCIO
from 18 August. As a practising
clinician with strong ICT experience,
Dr Lambert is well suited for this job
as we build our eHealth capacity
and improve the support we provide
Page II
”
industry software, hardware and
support company.
join me in extending to him a warm
eHealth NSW welcome.
Designing technology and related
systems to help clinicians deliver
better patient care is one of
Dr Lambert’s passions.
Michael Walsh
Chief Executive/
Chief Information Officer
eHealth NSW
eHealth News
August 2014
HETI Online marches on
The NSW Health Learning Management System –
HETI Online – is on track for full implementation
by 1 October, in time for when mandatory
training system alert notifications and
compliance reporting capabilities are
switched on.
HETI Online provides benefits for
HealthShare NSW and eHealth NSW
staff in standardising the delivery
of training, and providing
simplified recording and reporting
of learner completions. HETI
Online also offers a greater
functionality in completing
mandatory training and access to
category-specific courses.
Currently, there are over 10,000
historical learning records being
migrated to HETI Online for staff
members who have completed
mandatory and targeted training.
As part of the implementation activities,
the eHealth NSW project team, which has been
responsible for the NSW Health-wide roll-out of HETI
Online, has delivered more than 65 days of face-to-face
training for approximately 520 key stakeholders. This
training has received great feedback on the interactive and
practical method of delivery.
Health Education and Training Institute Chief Executive
Heather Gray paid tribute to eHealth NSW Chief Executive
and Chief Information Officer Michael Walsh and his team
“for all their hard work to get us to this point”.
For HealthShare NSW and eHealth NSW, the Organisational
Development team within Workforce serves as the local
Administrators of HETI Online, providing end-user support
for training completions and recording. Training is also
being provided to staff as required and for all those with
Instructor/Scheduler responsibilities.
Online course completions have steadily grown as
HETI Online reaches more staff with an ever- increasing
catalogue of rich eLearning content.
HETI Online provides training for HealthShare NSW
and eHealth NSW staff – with the goal of improving
the delivery of services to our customers and
the patients for whom they care
The usage of HETI Online to monitor and record classroom
training is also growing at a great rate. To date, the system
has been used to capture records for more than 18,000
classroom attendances spread across over 1,000 classroom
sessions across NSW Health.
“LHDs and Health Agencies are finding innovative ways
to make the most out of precious staff development time
by ensuring that the right delivery mode is targeted to the
right learning objective,” said Project Manager Khiem Luu.
For further information about HETI Online for
HealthShare NSW and eHealth NSW staff, contact
Nina Dizon from the Organisational Development team
on 8644 2283 or [email protected].
nsw.gov.au
Page III
eHealth News
August 2014
AIX project delivers
A project to replace the ageing and end-of-life
infrastructure that hosts core clinical integration platforms
for Local Health Districts has achieved cost savings of $2.4
million over five years, with even greater cost savings likely.
Information Services successfully completed the AIX migration
project thanks to dedicated resources from a technical
project management team that included the Integration
team, Database team, Systems team and Design team.
The project overcame a few roadblocks due to skilful
and dedicated resources from different groups
in Information Services, said AIX Migration
Project Manager Abhinanda Roy.
All critical clinical applications – such as the
Electronic Medical Record (eMR), iPM, EIR,
iPharmacy, Endoscopy – are now running on an
upgraded platform, resulting in faster performances.
This initiative has delivered the following benefits:
• Greater reliability and performance due to updated
infrastructure;
L-R: Miranda Tan, Anh Ngoc Vo Ha,
Susan Tan and Abhinanda Roy celebrate
the AIX Migration project’s
successful completion
• High availability/disaster recovery of the integration
platform due to cross-site cluster between Cumberland
and Liverpool Data Centres which did not exist before;
Six physical servers have been replaced by one server
each on both Data Centres – a huge saving of
floor space.
• Provides LHD environment isolation for better
manageability and reliability;
This project successfully migrated seven LHDs –
South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Shoalhaven,
Northern Sydney and Central Coast, Mid North Coast
and Northern NSW, Far West and Western NSW,
Murrumbidgee and Southern NSW, Western Sydney
and Nepean Blue Mountains – as well as the Justice
Health & Forensic Mental Health Network.
• Retirement of existing Superdomes and AlphaServers
leading to cost savings of more than $600,000,
as well as risk mitigation of prolonged outage
in case of hardware failures.
See you at Expo 2014!
Details at www.hssevents.health.nsw.gov.au/healthshareexpo
Friday 15 August 2014
Rosehill Gardens, Rosehill
Registration opens at 8am
Expo Open and
Welcome at 9am
Page IV
eHealth News
August 2014
First go-live for AFM Online
The power of one
The recent establishment of eHealth NSW has
presented the organisation with an exciting
opportunity to create a single Program
Management Office to provide support and
assurance across the clinical, corporate and
infrastructure programs.
The Project Management Office (PMO) will
allow a whole-of-organisation view across all
of its programs. This will allow eHealth NSW to
identify and manage inter- and intra-program
dependencies as well as importantly providing
customers with a much more integrated view
of the projects that eHealth NSW is
delivering to each of them.
Additionally, the PMO will provide high-quality
assurance and support across all programs to
continue improving the quality and reliability
of its program delivery.
To achieve this, eHealth NSW will be
transitioning to more consistent methodologies,
tools, templates and reporting arrangements
across all programs and establishing structures
and processes that encourage more collaborative
work across programs, particularly in areas
such as LHD consultation, user training and
the implementation of change strategies.
Adopting a more consistent implementation
methodology will have the additional benefit
of making things much easier and more
predictable for our customers to implement the
large number of solutions that eHealth NSW
is delivering for them.
Development of templates and reporting
for the programs has commenced, as has
implementation of a new tool, the Principal
Toolbox, a Project and Portfolio Management
(PPM) tool to manage this reporting.
New reports will be generated from this
tool over the next few weeks.
Thirty five corporate real-estate specialists attend training in
AFM Online functionality at the Corporate Program’s training
centre in Gladesville ahead of the system go-live on 29 July
Functionality for Corporate Real Estate in the new Asset &
Facilities Management information management system,
AFM Online, was released statewide on 29 July.
The Corporate Real Estate function will provide property
management staff and staff who manage leases and
contracts with the tools they need to support them to
effectively carry out their work.
It will also provide a single repository of information for
a Health Agency with regard to its property portfolio
and allow for the centralised management of leases.
Key benefits include improved reports for property
management, lease expiry notifications, Consumer Price
Index (CPI) increase calculations and rent reports.
Extensive Program Acceptance Testing (PAT) has been
taking place with nominated trainers from around the state
at the Corporate Programs training facility in Gladesville.
Further functionality in AFM Online for environmental
sustainability, facilities management, biomedical and medical
equipment management, and for operations and maintenance
staff will go live between the end of this month and mid-2015.
AFM Online is an enabler for effective asset management
and will be a foundation component of the overall asset
management framework for NSW Health. The aim is to help
ensure the right asset is in the right place, at the right time
and in the right condition to support optimal patient care.
For more information about AFM Online, email
[email protected]
Page V
eHealth News
August 2014
Tackling the tyranny of distance
From page I
For instance, capability and use of eHealth in rural Australia
is significantly less than in metropolitan areas given that
the majority of rural health sites have less internet capacity
than most homes in Sydney, limiting the ability of staff to
use available solutions.
“We have to think differently about how we can drive
eHealth capability into rural and remote areas through an
integrated approach and delivery,” said Andrew Young,
Program Manager.
“We have formed a Rural eHealth Governance Group,
comprising the Chief Executives of the six LHDs and senior
executives from eHealth NSW, and we are in the process of
bringing in some clinical leadership.”
The Rural eHealth Program aims to improve the way we
manage and deliver the appropriate tools and resources to
clinicians, staff and most importantly patients, by focusing
on the delivery and support we provide across clinical,
corporate and infrastructure programs.
A number of priorities for accelerating clinical, corporate
and infrastructure programs for rural areas in NSW
include the need to:
Page VI
• Provide secure, reliable and highly
available information and communication
infrastructure;
• Provide appropriately resourced and
clinically aware ICT support;
• Implement a single patient record;
• Provide clinical workflow tools to support the
patient journey and support clinical decisions;
• Support patient access and self-management;
• Support reporting and decision-making;
for example, service planning;
• Provide sustainable and ongoing change
management and training;
• Strengthen eHealth NSW’s operational
and strategic governance.
The Rural eHealth Program supports the Ministry of
Health’s soon-to-be-released Rural Health Plan for
2014-2018, which highlights strategies to deliver on rural
health priorities in the next five years.
eHealth News
August 2014
StaffLink extends its reach
StaffLink, the consolidated Oracle IT system that facilitates
the delivery of corporate systems for NSW Health,
continues to expand its reach.
In June, Health Infrastructure was the latest organisation
to go live with the StaffLink human resources and payroll
system, providing staff and managers with all the benefits
of accessing pay and human resources information online,
and being able to view their payslips as soon as pay
is processed.
The Cancer Institute NSW is the next organisation scheduled
to migrate to StaffLink for both Human Resources and
Payroll, and also for Financials & Procurement.
Corporate Programs is working in close partnership with
the HealthShare NSW Westmead Service Centre on data
gathering and cleansing to ensure a successful parallel run
for payroll and user acceptance testing of financials. The
system is expected to go live in November.
Once the Cancer Institute NSW transitions to StaffLink,
this will bring the total number of positions recorded in
StaffLink to more than 163,000.
StaffLink is also the ‘source of truth’ for organisational
structure and position hierarchies for a number of other
corporate systems including the HETI Online learning
management system and AFM Online for the management
of NSW Health’s assets and facilities.
Future transitions to StaffLink involve the Ministry of Health
and NSW Ambulance. Once these are transitioned, this will
see all NSW Health workers on the same Corporate System
for payroll, HR, finance, procurement, and access
and identity management.
Milestone for Application Performance Monitoring
Information Services recently achieved a milestone
with the delivery of the second phase of its
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) project.
Comprising dashboard, monitoring and diagnostic
layers, APM allows for integrated monitoring of
current and new technologies, capacity planning,
improved availability reporting, event management
and application performance management.
The implementation saw an upgrade to the latest APM
release, a secure test environment and monitoring
of Health Infrastructure as-a-Service (HIaaS), active
directory, exchange and database monitoring for six
clinical applications. These include Electronic Medical
Record (eMR), Enterprise Imaging Repository (EIR),
Endoscopy Information System (EIS), iPatient Manager
(iPM), HealtheNet and CHIME versions 3 and 4.
As part of improving the delivery and user experience
of the APM service, the project team welcomes
feedback, which can be sent to Senior Project
Manager Rachel Bobrowski at rachel.bobrowski@
hss.health.nsw.gov.au
What are the benefits of Application
Performance Monitoring?
APM:
 Provides sophisticated monitoring and deep-dive analysis
capability on application performance issues statewide,
including active directory and exchange;
 Provides sophisticated monitoring and deep-dive
analysis capability of databases for the six core clinical
applications;
 Provides a robust virtualisation monitoring environment
for the HIaaS platform, including proactive capacity
management and availability management;
 Provides dashboard capability within eHealth NSW
reporting on current and overall availability of services as
well as automating key service delivery reports for both
eHealth NSW and its customers;
 Allows end-to-end view of the infrastructure, and smart
event correlation to recognise and act on complex issues
by the technical teams.
Page VII