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 500,000 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.
Canterbury DHB is highly patient-centric. The group strives diligently to remove bottlenecks from what is often referred to as “the patient’s journey.” Canterbury DHB has used Intelerad’s IntelePACS for the seamless archiving, distributing, and secure sharing of images and reports.
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 Dr. Sean Skea, Canterbury DHB’s chief of radiology at Christchurch Hospital.
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. 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.
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.
