Initiative
Throughout the Northern Territory (NT), a variety of communication channels are used by healthcare providers, including: fax, email, post and secure electronic messaging services (SEMS). A study conducted by Chamonix IT Consulting in 2021 revealed that a SEMS solution was necessary to establish links between systems, people and processes across the NT’s fragmented healthcare network. Consultation with a variety of stakeholders across the NT Health ecosystem has reaffirmed this finding, and support from the Australian Digital Health Agency has reinvigorated support for SEMS.
Overview
Preliminary discussions with stakeholders have identified a number of requirements which must be satisfied in order to secure the longevity of secure messaging throughout the Territory:
- The system needs to be intuitive and seamlessly integrated with clinical practice and referral management.
- The solution should maintain the ability to send via email and fax (depending on the preferences of the receiver).
- The solution should be agnostic, meaning that it is interoperable with all major secure messaging software providers.
- A dedicated support team or managed service will be required to provide support to healthcare providers around the Territory.
- The solution should also be integrated with a regularly updated and maintained address book, acting as a single source of truth.
Benefits
A secure messaging solution is essential for improving the continuity of care process for patients. Improvements in the continuity of care process has the potential to improve outcomes, improve health and care experiences.
A SEMS will ensure that healthcare professionals have access to key patient information in the event of a medical emergency, or when a patient is away from home.
SEMS supports the end-to-end patient journey, from admission to discharge by:
- protecting data confidentiality and patient privacy
- holding clinicians accountable and supports investigations when adverse events occur
- reducing manual processes and the dependency on paper.