The Northern Territory government has signed a contract with global clinical systems provider InterSystems to undertake the "largest-ever" transformation of the territory's healthcare IT environment.
The five-year core clinical systems renewal program (CCSRP) was given an extra $73 million in the territory's annual budget last month, upping the price tag to $259 million.
It will replace four obsolete critical clinical systems with a single patient database, accessible from anywhere and in real time.
The platform will provide doctors and clinicians a single view of a patient, and will allow territorians to access their personal data and manage their appointments through an online portal.
Today the NT government revealed InterSystems had been selected as the successful bidder for the deal, with the help of local integrator Dialog Information Technology.
"This is a major investment delivering a single digital medical record for all territorians. It enables our nurses and doctors to focus on treating patients and delivers the high quality health services that territorians want and deserve," Health minister Natasha Fyles said in a statement today.
“It will save time, provide better services and improve the health of territorians.”
InterSystems will open an office in Darwin to house 17 project staff, drawn both from the company and Dialog. Around 100 people will work on the project during its peak delivery phase.
The government said it has established "stringent governance processes" to "carefully monitor progress and risks and take early action to address if this is needed".
It has created an advisory group it has dubbed the clinical leadership team to support the project team for "safe implementation" of the new system.
