Telstra has bagged the A$1.6 million ($1 million) contract to deliver comprehensive connectivity upgrades across Peninsula Health, a major public health service in Victoria.

According to a media release, the organisation is seeking to replace its existing IT systems across 13 hospital and healthcare sites with "smarter, safer and more resilient technology, CISCO SDWAN, [and] faster internet services." It also wants to simplify existing contracts and processes to drive costs down. 

Telstra will raise its bandwidth four times from its current speed, as well as introduce a solution to each local site so they can operate independently and uninterrupted in case of an outage at the headquarters. 

The IT provider expects to complete the project by "mid-to-late 2024." 

WHY IT MATTERS

Telstra's IT solution will help staff and patients of Peninsula Health to connect securely to internet services via an online-only system, moving from old IT networks that did not talk to each other. It will also ensure system resiliency amid cases of disruption. 

"The impact for a hospital or health service, if there is a power outage or local disruption, can be particularly dire, which is why the program of works will also be including more redundancy to help ensure the system is as resilient as possible," explained John Ieraci, Telstra Enterprise Group Owner for Defence and Public Sector. 

Enabling staff to work with "faster, more agile systems" also allows them to focus on providing care while patients benefit from "greater connectivity and guest internet [access]," added David English, Peninsula Health executive director of Digital Health and Informatics. 

THE LARGER CONTEXT

The organisation-wide connectivity upgrade is part of Peninsula Health's broader digital transformation. To recall, it enforced remote work and rolled out telehealth services during the height of the global pandemic in 2021. The Citrix Cloud-based digital workplace by Logicalis provided staff with a shared environment that streamlined execution, enhanced collaboration, and ensured equitable access and sharing of information, regardless of their location.

Peninsula Health was also the first in Victoria's Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula to implement last year Magentus' oncology information management solution, Charm Evolution, which has lessened paperwork and freed up clinicians to spend more time on patient care.