Justice Health rolls out electronic medical records

The Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network plans to deliver complete electronic medical records across the New South Wales public health system following the deployment of new software.

The NSW organisation – which provides mental health services to people in the criminal justice system – has rolled out the Orion Health EMR platform to eliminate manual information sharing between the organisation and other healthcare providers.

The new system contains medical records for more than 30,000 patients each year who are highly vulnerable and who have numerous and more complex health needs than people in the wider community, the organisation said.

Data previously held in paper records – including patient details, medical conditions, appointments, pathology results, and medicines prescribed – has been consolidated and is now available across the state.

“The past, as patients are continually moved between correctional centres, courts and the community, the information has not always followed the patient in a timely manner,” said Susan Harman, CIO at Justice Health.

“Our aim is to use technology as a key strategy to support clinical teams to deliver safer care for patients and to strengthen local decision making capability.”

The organisation is also deploying a clinical portal to provide a single entry point for all users to access and contribute to patient records. This will provide clinicians with a patient summary, problem and allergy information, and notifications of events integrated with electronic reporting and clinical forms.

An integration engine will also speed up message handling between applications and the organisation’s patient administration system.

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