Southern patient records ‘missing’

• A Te Whatu Ora data transfer in Southern has “not gone as smoothly as planned”.
• Staff are warning that patient records are compromised, and in some cases, missing.
• This means some patients have fallen off wait lists.

Te Whatu Ora won’t say how many southern patients records have been impacted by a data transfer it calls “particularly challenged”.

The Southern District was changed over to a new patient management system in November and staff have contacted Stuff anonymously to say the software is cumbersome and doesn’t work properly, leading to privacy breaches and frustration for patients and staff.

“A large number of patient phone numbers or addresses are wrong or missing, which means appointment details and appointment reminders are being sent to non existent numbers or, even worse, other people,” a letter sent to Stuff says.

“Waiting lists are out of order or make no sense, so we have patients who have already been seen being contacted for appointments.”

Administrative staff were most concerned about cases where patient records were now missing, which they said meant they had dropped off wait lists.

Staff were working overtime to keep up with the administrative “disaster” while copping abuse from frustrated patients, they said.

But Te Whatu Ora data and digital chief Leigh Donoghue said any changeover to a new IT system was challenging, especially when the system being replaced had been in place for a long period of time.

“A period of adjustment is always to be expected.”

However, Donoghue conceded, “the process of transferring to SI PICS has been particularly challenging”.

The South Island Patient Information Care System, developed by Orion Health, was approved by the health minister Tony Ryall in 2014 with the idea that all South Island district health boards would be on the same patient management system, so they could share patient records while managing wait lists and resources centrally.

The system had already been rolled out in Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, and South Canterbury.

It was due to be rolled out in Southland and Otago in early 2020, but this was delayed because of Covid.

The existing infrastructure was older, making the transition more complicated, Donoghue said.

Data migration had also not gone as smoothly as planned and the IT support team were working hard to get issues resolved as quickly as possible, he said.

“We acknowledge our staff’s frustrations. We are working with all Southern staff to resolve issues and help them operate effectively in the new environment.”

The project involved migrating 25,000,000 data items into the new system, but also preparing SI PICS resources and training guides, and delivering training sessions for SI PICS champions and about 3000 Southern staff to help them learn the new system, Donoghue explained.

Patient safety remained Te Whatu Ora’s priority, he said, thanking staff for their commitment and effort.

Navigators and staff support were available, he added.

- The Southland Times