❓ Mr. Cook questions the Minister for Health about IT failures at Fiona Stanley Hospital. The Minister acknowledges responsibility but defends the team's efforts and blames legacy systems in other hospitals for communication issues.
AnsweredQoN 596Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIONA STANLEY HOSPITAL — INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SYSTEMS
596. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for
Health:
I refer to the development of
information technology at Fiona Stanley Hospital and to the minister's
mismanagement of it as identified by the Auditor General.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that when the hospital opens, it will have no identity access
management system, no closed-loop medication system and will fall well short of
being a paperless hospital?
(2) Can the
minister confirm that the limited e-records that will be produced at Fiona
Stanley Hospital will be visible at only two other hospitals in Western
Australia?
(3) Does the minister take
responsibility for the failure of IT development at Fiona Stanley Hospital?
SYSTEMS
596. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for
Health:
I refer to the development of
information technology at Fiona Stanley Hospital and to the minister's
mismanagement of it as identified by the Auditor General.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that when the hospital opens, it will have no identity access
management system, no closed-loop medication system and will fall well short of
being a paperless hospital?
(2) Can the
minister confirm that the limited e-records that will be produced at Fiona
Stanley Hospital will be visible at only two other hospitals in Western
Australia?
(3) Does the minister take
responsibility for the failure of IT development at Fiona Stanley Hospital?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3) I
will take responsibility for failures at the hospital, but I also hope to get
credit for its successes. We are very much looking forward to opening what will
be a new magnificent hospital at 10 o'clock on 3 October. Both the
Leader and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition are invited to attend. I am sure
that they will be amazed when they see what services the hospital will be
providing. Although quite clearly I have responsibility for the IT outcomes
proposed for the hospital, my IT skills are not all that great, even though
they are better than some. I am not looking at anyone in particular! We have a
team of people who are responsible for that. In fact, the original team was
started under the Labor government and the original goals were set under the
Labor government. They were set with what I would regard as a degree of
ambition.
Mr
R.H. Cook : We paid for it and you stuffed it up!
Dr
K.D. HAMES : If I stuffed up, then the whole team—that is, the team
that was appointed by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition's lot—stuffed
it up. I do not believe that the member's team, which became my team,
stuffed up. The team set ambitious goals that were very difficult to achieve.
The reason for that is that a lot of the things they put in, such as a
paperless hospital—a very ambitious program—had not been
developed at that time and the programs still had to be written, but they were
doing it in anticipation that in 10 years' time, or whenever it was
that the hospital was to open, all those things would be able to be written and
developed.
Mr
R.H. Cook : You can buy those programs off the shelf.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, I call you to order for the first time. I do
not think it is a good idea to answer your own question.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : That team of people was modified and added to along the way,
but the key core group that set the goals was there for most of the pathway.
They were not able to achieve the goals that they set for themselves, but the
IT program will be well in front of that in every other hospital. It will be
the latest technology and it will be far beyond anything that people have
experienced in any other hospital. For example, there will be a computer at
each bedside that extends out in front of a patient. The computer is also a
screen that allows people to watch television, to skype their relatives in
other countries and to study the hospital menu and order their meals. The
doctor can then switch it around so that they can log on and do the records of
the patient. Some of those things have not been finalised. Some are close to
being developed, but the advice I am getting is that the team has every
confidence that those things will be progressed with time. I do not think we
have to wait to see what the IT outcome is. That team has done the absolute
best that it can. It has worked extremely hard. Sometimes the team is at Fiona Stanley
seven days a week, particularly lately, working on the IT system.
Mr
R.H. Cook : How would you know? You're not there seven days a week.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : As if I, who has no expertise in IT, would sit in the IT
section at Fiona Stanley and tell the team that they are not doing things
right! I have met those guys; they are a smart bunch of cookies. Their brain
cells are up here; mine are down here. They are a smart bunch of cookies.
Mr M.P. Murray : A
bit lower! Get your hand down lower!
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
member for Collie–Preston's brain cells are probably somewhere
else! They are an amazing group of people who have worked extremely hard to get
the system as good as they can get it. I am sure that further progress will be
made. Part of the difficulties in conversing with other hospitals is that under
the old system, individual boards and individual hospitals would work in silo
and develop their own IT systems. The fault with Fiona Stanley Hospital not
being able to communicate with other hospitals is with the IT systems of other
hospitals. In time, those IT systems will need modification so that they can
all merge.
will take responsibility for failures at the hospital, but I also hope to get
credit for its successes. We are very much looking forward to opening what will
be a new magnificent hospital at 10 o'clock on 3 October. Both the
Leader and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition are invited to attend. I am sure
that they will be amazed when they see what services the hospital will be
providing. Although quite clearly I have responsibility for the IT outcomes
proposed for the hospital, my IT skills are not all that great, even though
they are better than some. I am not looking at anyone in particular! We have a
team of people who are responsible for that. In fact, the original team was
started under the Labor government and the original goals were set under the
Labor government. They were set with what I would regard as a degree of
ambition.
Mr
R.H. Cook : We paid for it and you stuffed it up!
Dr
K.D. HAMES : If I stuffed up, then the whole team—that is, the team
that was appointed by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition's lot—stuffed
it up. I do not believe that the member's team, which became my team,
stuffed up. The team set ambitious goals that were very difficult to achieve.
The reason for that is that a lot of the things they put in, such as a
paperless hospital—a very ambitious program—had not been
developed at that time and the programs still had to be written, but they were
doing it in anticipation that in 10 years' time, or whenever it was
that the hospital was to open, all those things would be able to be written and
developed.
Mr
R.H. Cook : You can buy those programs off the shelf.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, I call you to order for the first time. I do
not think it is a good idea to answer your own question.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : That team of people was modified and added to along the way,
but the key core group that set the goals was there for most of the pathway.
They were not able to achieve the goals that they set for themselves, but the
IT program will be well in front of that in every other hospital. It will be
the latest technology and it will be far beyond anything that people have
experienced in any other hospital. For example, there will be a computer at
each bedside that extends out in front of a patient. The computer is also a
screen that allows people to watch television, to skype their relatives in
other countries and to study the hospital menu and order their meals. The
doctor can then switch it around so that they can log on and do the records of
the patient. Some of those things have not been finalised. Some are close to
being developed, but the advice I am getting is that the team has every
confidence that those things will be progressed with time. I do not think we
have to wait to see what the IT outcome is. That team has done the absolute
best that it can. It has worked extremely hard. Sometimes the team is at Fiona Stanley
seven days a week, particularly lately, working on the IT system.
Mr
R.H. Cook : How would you know? You're not there seven days a week.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : As if I, who has no expertise in IT, would sit in the IT
section at Fiona Stanley and tell the team that they are not doing things
right! I have met those guys; they are a smart bunch of cookies. Their brain
cells are up here; mine are down here. They are a smart bunch of cookies.
Mr M.P. Murray : A
bit lower! Get your hand down lower!
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
member for Collie–Preston's brain cells are probably somewhere
else! They are an amazing group of people who have worked extremely hard to get
the system as good as they can get it. I am sure that further progress will be
made. Part of the difficulties in conversing with other hospitals is that under
the old system, individual boards and individual hospitals would work in silo
and develop their own IT systems. The fault with Fiona Stanley Hospital not
being able to communicate with other hospitals is with the IT systems of other
hospitals. In time, those IT systems will need modification so that they can
all merge.
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