Four HCA members, Trevor Bower, Eric Browne, Melissa Cadzow and Alan Nankivell, have been appointed for a 12 month period, to the recently established eHealth Consumer Reference Group which held its first meeting on 29 September 2011. The purpose of the group is to support consumers and/or carers to actively participate in improving the patient experience and health outcomes through SA Health’s eHealth agenda by:
- Ensuring there are mechanisms in place to actively engage with consumers and the community in the planning, priority-setting, design and delivery of SA Health e-initiatives and projects
- Providing consumer advocates with information on eHealth strategies and projects
- Obtaining consumer input and perspectives on eHealth strategies and projects
- Partnering with consumers and/or carers to design the way eHealth is delivered to better meet patient needs and preferences
- Providing SA Health ICT Steering Committee and relevant project boards (e.g. EPAS) with regular reporting and consumer feedback to ensure consumer advice and information are considered.
The eHealth Consumer Reference Group will provide a report and minutes to the ICT Steering Committee and to the Strategic Governance Committee for Safety & Quality.
HCA representatives report back to HCA and hold their own eHealth meetings. To date HCA’s eHealth group has met twice, once following the September meeting to discuss meeting outcomes and again to discuss items for the forthcoming meeting held on 24 November which included Bedside Monitors and the Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS).
Matters discussed at the meeting on 29 September included:
- An update on the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) and in particular the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) which is part of the 2010/11 federal budget, $466.7 million investment over two years. PCHER will be available for all Australians who choose to register online, from 2012-13.
- The Concept of Operations is now available on the NEHTA website www.nehta.gov.au. This document provides an overview of the PCEHR system and how it will work and includes feedback received from public, on-going consultations with stakeholders and lessons learned from local and international efforts.
- Individual Health Identifiers (IHI) All Australians have been issued with a 16 digit IHI. South Australia is taking steps to implement the use of IHI’s within SA Health’s systems.
- Jurisdictional Boundaries The Group clarified that NEHTA initiatives are beyond the control of SA Health and there are other consumer forums for providing direct feedback to NEHTA. The focus of this Group will be what SA Health is doing and this will include interactions with NEHTA, GPs and other health providers. However, feedback from the Group will be considered by SA Health in the Department’s interactions with NEHTA.
For further information contact Helen Smith, Senior Project Officer on 08 8231 4169, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
