$133M investment for 'critical' health IT in WA

The Western Australian government has recently announced an A$3.2 billion ($2.1 billion) investment in health in its budget for 2024-2025. 

It includes A$200 million ($133 million) for EMR and critical ICT infrastructure. Another A$28 million ($19 million) will be used to continue supporting the WA Virtual Emergency Department. 

This year's "record" budget is expected to "boost hospital capacity, support the health workforce and improve patient access to care," according to a government media release.

Prescriber approval management added to SafeScript NSW 

eHealth NSW has recently added a new functionality to SafeScript NSW that simplifies the approval process for prescribing controlled drugs. 

Released in November, the approval management system simplifies prescribers' application for approval to prescribe and supply certain Schedule 8 medicines. It lessens their time doing paperwork and allows them to manage and track their approvals in real time. 

Two years after SafeScript was rolled out statewide, it is now used by more than 29,000 health practitioners to access patients' prescription and dispensing history for monitored medicines. 

NSW Health's RIS-PACS now business-as-usual

After four years, NSW Health’s medical imaging system, Radiology Information Systems and Picture Archiving & Communications System (RIS-PACS), is now business-as-usual across hospitals in the state. 

The RIS-PACS programme concluded early this year after helping migrate historical images across 86 hospitals in one statewide platform since 2020. 

"The programme reflects one of the most significant digital changes to NSW Health to date, resulting in the standardisation of radiology practices across Australia’s largest public health system," eHealth NSW said in a statement.