New South Wales is leading Australia with its statewide Medical Imaging program. No other MI program in any other state or territory has connected as many hospitals and disparate systems to make patients’ information available in a single place so quickly and so easily for doctors.
The momentum propelling this initiative is the Enterprise Imaging Repository (EIR), which won a coveted NSW Premier’s Public Service Award for 2013. The implementation of the EIR means that irrespective of which public hospital a patient visits, their treating clinicians will have instant access to their current and previous radiology images and reports. This not only provides clinicians with a more comprehensive picture of the patient’s condition and medical history, but also assists them to make a faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. Radiologists at WNSWLHD & FWNSWLHD automatically access the patient’s historical exams from all 280 NSW Public Hospitals each time a new exam is being reported. Ultimately leading to exceptional patient care and accurate outcomes.
The EIR is delivering benefits for:
Patients – by reducing unnecessary procedures and associated exposure to radiation;
Clinical staff – by supporting improved quality and safety of care as they can easily see previous images and reports for their patients irrespective of where the study was done
Local Health Districts – by reducing the cost of repeat procedures.