HUTT VALLEY DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD ( DHB )
systems to help achieve new levels of patient service .
“ The idea for the centre was born from agroup of staff visiting a local manufacturing business which was using new technology for tracking the flow of production ,” explains Russell Simpson , executive director allied health , scientific and technical for Hutt Valley DHB .
From these small beginnings , a whole team of staff from computer analyst programmers and clinical leads to executive sponsors came up with the concept of an Operations Centre . Subsequent visits to Bay of Plenty and Counties Manukau DHBs further refined the concept of how this technology could work in a hospital setting , and the Hutt team implemented a system which saw the DHB move away from a mainly paper-based tracking system to an electronic one .
Hutt Hospital ’ s new Operation Centre system , which was officially launched in February of 2013 in the hospital ’ s new emergency department and theatre wing , enables heightened organisational visibility to better attend to the individual needs of patients .
“ The hospital ’ s activity is coordinated and functions like a ‘ central brain ’ that helps staff to take a whole-of-hospital approach to planning , monitoring and resourcing ,” says Simpson .
Through the use of radio frequency identification devices
New CEO Dr Ashley Bloomfield - the first time that Hutt Valley DHB has been led by a clinician .
www . huttvalleydhb . org . nz 149