MOBILE TELEMEDICINE This cart is going to be installed at Grey Base Hospital, allowing specialists in Christchurch to carry out virtual ward rounds.
Doctors in Christchurch will soon be conducting virtual ward rounds in Greymouth, using a mobile video conferencing cart to check on hospital patients.
The cart, which costs about $50,000, will initially be used for pediatric and neonatal care at Grey Base Hospital.
It is part of a wider telemedicine initiative by the West Coast and Canterbury district health boards, in which hospitals and health clinics have been fitted out with video conferencing equipment so health professionals can conduct virtual clinics and consult with colleagues in the South Island.
Associate Professor Michael Sullivan, clinical leader of the telemedicine initiative, said the cart could later be used to assess patients in intensive care.
"It'll be the first one of its type in the country."
Telehealth equipment had been installed at sites in Westport, Greymouth, Reefton, Hokitika and in five rural health clinics in South Westland, including Haast, Hari Hari and Franz Josef, Sullivan said.
"The key uses [of the equipment] so far have been in pediatrics, for virtual clinics, and for cancer care, to assess patients undergoing chemotherapy."
"We're seeking feedback from the patients as to how they see it as a clinical experience.
"So far, anecdotally, their responses are very supportive."
Some Christchurch Hospital staff were relocated to Princess Margaret Hospital across town after the earthquakes, and a telehealth network had been set up between the two so clinicians at Princess Margaret could get advice and support.
Telemedicine has been singled out as a technology that will benefit from the ultrafast broadband rollout. A hi-tech telepresence system was set up on the West Coast in 2008, but was later abandoned because of under-use.
Sullivan said the challenge now for the DHBs would be to integrate and support the use of telemedicine in day-to-day practice.
Meanwhile the Government has announced an "innovation hub" for health technology. Based out of Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitemata and Canterbury DHBs, it will cost $24 million over five years and bring together clinicians and industry to develop products and services.
The Government has committed $3m to the hub, with the rest to come from public and private sources.
- Fairfax Media
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