Watch the interview with Sean Skea, M.D., Canterbury District Health Board’s Chief of Radiology at Christchurch Hospital.
Intelerad’s robust, reliable and intuitive workflow-based solutions help ensure a smooth journey for the patients of the Canterbury district, eliminating bottlenecks and boosting the efficiency of the patient imaging process.
About Canterbury District Health Board
In the Canterbury region of New Zealand, the Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) ensures the effective coordination and delivery of public healthcare services to the district’s residents. It is the largest employer in New Zealand’s South Island, with more than 9,000 staff across 14 hospitals and numerous community bases.
Robust, Reliable PACS Ensures Smooth Patient Experience
Of the country’s 20 district health boards, Canterbury DHB is the second largest by population as well as by geographical area. Canterbury DHB is highly patient-centric. The group strives diligently to remove bottlenecks from what is often referred to as “the patient’s journey.”
The radiology departments in this sizeable public healthcare organization work continuously to ensure that the imaging and reporting process is effective, efficient and high-quality. Canterbury DHB has used Intelerad’s IntelePACS for the seamless archiving, distributing, and secure sharing of images and reports.
“Having a robust PACS has allowed us to progress patients very quickly onto the next step of their care management,” says Sean Skea, M.D., Canterbury DHB’s chief of radiology at Christchurch Hospital.
Workflow Features Enable High Levels of Productivity
IntelePACS’ integrated workflow, universal worklist and comprehensive InteleViewer module increase productivity and efficiency for the organization’s radiologists. “It is Intelerad’s workflow that makes the difference,” says Skea, who finds Intelerad’s domain expertise in this area especially valuable.
Efficiency is particularly critical with the district’s growing demand for radiological services in the face of increasingly constrained radiologist resources.
Intelerad software plays a huge role in recognizing that goal. “We can virtually turn around reports within minutes,” says Skea, who has introduced real-time reporting to emergency departments in the district.
Performance Maximized by Ease of Use, Reliability and Remote Monitoring
Canterbury DHB radiologists find Intelerad solutions extremely intuitive, with new staff members becoming proficient and productive on the system within a day or two. “The software is easy to use. That is so important,” Skea says. “These solutions absolutely deliver in terms of functionality and the radiologists can focus on reporting cases.”
Canterbury DHB also recognizes the value of the Intelerad Pulse support service, which proactively and continuously monitors customer systems remotely. Timely diagnostic and preventive maintenance ensures business continuity. “It is an incredibly robust system,” says Skea, who has never experienced an outage of Intelerad’s software.
Common PACS Bridges Gaps between Public, Private Systems
In the Christchurch area, the patient journey may begin in the public system, continue with a private specialist, and then return to the public system. This situation can invite the undesirable bottlenecks Canterbury DHB seeks to avoid in the patient experience.
Efficiency in patient imaging is maintained, however, because private practitioners in Christchurch also use IntelePACS. Thus, physicians and radiologists get instant, seamless access to prior images and reports, whether the studies originated in the public or private system. This is a huge advantage that enhances patient care and eliminates unnecessary repeat imaging, saving money and time. “The imaging actually follows them,” says Skea. “From a patient perspective, the benefits are enormous.”
The availability of a common, robust PACS solution also allows Canterbury DHB to effectively share its radiology workload with the private sector when necessary. This has been critical as demand for services can outpace the supply of radiologists in the public system. “Having common technology has been hugely advantageous,” says Skea.
Customer-Centric Approach Differentiates Intelerad
With such a patient-centric approach to healthcare, it is not surprising that Canterbury DHB admires and values the customer-centric emphasis for which Intelerad is known. “I do not know of another PACS vendor that listens to their customers the way Intelerad does,” Skea says. He appreciates that Intelerad solicits feedback, and then implements what its customers need. “This really differentiates Intelerad,” he says. “That is one of the most outstanding features of working with them.”
April 11, 2024 
