16 May 2018
South Island patient administration system travels to the top of the south
Nelson Marlborough Health has become the second South Island district health board (DHB) to move onto SI PICS, the South
Island Patient Administration Care System. The move is part of a South Island Alliance initiative to streamline patient
care throughout the region through the use of a single patient administration system.
SI PICS Regional Programme Manager Nick Lanigan says the Nelson Marlborough Health implementation of SI PICS is an
important milestone as it is the second major site to be using SI PICS, following Christchurch’s Burwood Hospital.
“SI PICS enables a more streamlined patient journey through our health services and allows a seamless transfer of care
anywhere in the region, including community to the hospital. Once established, the new system will operate in a more
user friendly and efficient way.”
This month’s launch has been four years in the making and was preceded by a huge amount of work by the regional SI PICS
team, together with Nelson Marlborough Health and Canterbury DHB IT and information teams. The software was put through
its paces with several rounds of user acceptance, system integration and data migration testing, before it was released
in Nelson Marlborough on 12 May.
Replacing the nine non-integrated patient management systems used by DHBs across the South Island, SI PICS provides a
record of patient activity, including community, outpatient and inpatient appointments, waitlist management, admissions
and discharges, as well as alerts and allergies. The regional system will provide more efficient, safer transfer of
patient information and a more consistent approach to patient management. It will be rolled out to the rest of the South
Island over time.
The system itself is configured from an existing Orion Health product in partnership with Nelson Marlborough Health,
Canterbury DHB, South Canterbury DHB, Southern DHB and West Coast DHB, through the South Island Alliance – the
collaboration through which the South Island’s five DHBs work together to reduce inequities and drive change across the
region.
Orion Health Product Director Shrikant Shrivastava says, “The rollout of SI PICS at Nelson Marlborough will witness some
significant improvements to their IT system that will add to the overall efficiency of health services. It marks a very
important milestone in the journey of successful collaboration between Orion Health and the South Island Alliance. We
remain committed to our partnership and look forward to more successful roll-outs in other DHBs across the South
Island.”