Qld lays out $1bn e-health investment strategy

The Queensland government has unveiled a new e-health investment strategy that Health Minister Cameron Dick said has the potential to create 1000 jobs and help modernise the state’s health sector.

The new strategy outlines five key areas of investment, including infrastructure that can improve the mobility of the workforce and a secure environment for exchanging patient and other information.

According to the investment plan, the government also plans to invest in developing a modern desktop environment for end users, replacing finance, patient administration and other enterprise systems and investing in electronic medical records.

In an introductory statement, the health minister said the strategy has been developed in partnership with all 16 of the state’s hospital and health services.

“The balanced investment approach outlined in this strategy will address legacy system risks and ensure a greater level of integration between health providers and the community,” he said.

“Equally, investing in innovative digital technologies will better support our clinicians delivering front-line services, maximising not only the value of our quality workforce, but offering a degree of mobilisation that will sustain new models of care and offer increased access to health services.”

The 20-year strategy lays out plans to invest over $1 billion to support healthcare delivery in the state, including $300 million for ICT infrastructure and $130 million for digitalisation and e-health interoperability efforts.

Image courtesy of Michael Zimmer under CC