Westmead Hospital begins Paper-Lite roll-out
The roll-out of electronic medical records (otherwise known as Paper-Lite) has started at Westmead Hospital.
The change – which started on May 1 – is one of the most important ever made at the hospital, and will make patient records accessible anywhere, any time.
The Paper-Lite team has been working into the early hours to bring the enormous project to fruition.
Westmead Hospital general manager Andrew Newton described the introduction of electronic medical records as “a massive change to the way we work”.
“The good news is we are ready,” he said.
“We have rolled out more than 550 new computers, workstations on wheels and laptops.
“We have almost completed our training.
“We have an army of local coaches in place and the Paper-Lite project team is ready to support us.”
The complete roll-out of electronic medical records at Westmead will take three weeks.
The first areas to go live were critical care and medicine and the cardiac cath lab, on May 1. Surgery, anaesthetics and in-patients for the division of medicine and cancer care will go live on Tuesday, May 2. Women’s services will go live on Wednesday, May 3.
Other areas will roll-out progressively until May 19. Business analysts for each area have more detailed information.
Paper-Lite project manager Robyn Cook has set up a support command centre for the entire roll-out.
“We understand there will be issues in the next few weeks, and we have support teams on 24/7 standby to solve them,” she said.
If you need support:
- See your local coach (their bright green t-shirts will make them easy to spot!)
- Call the Paper-Lite Command Centre on (02) 8890 3954, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
More detail information is available from Westmead Hospital NUMs and service managers.
Mr Newton said the move to electronic medical records was a “momentous step forward” for Westmead Hospital.
“Thanks to the team who have worked so hard to bring this to fruition, and to the clinical staff who have been preparing for this change over the past several months,” he said.
