The Queensland premier has been questioned in State Parliament on whether she will halt the rollout of Queensland Health’s integrated electronic medical record.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It follows relevations about the state’s public health clinicians detailing serious concerns with the project’s fast-tracked rollout and the consequences for hospitals including patient safety risks.
Dr Richard Ashby, the chief executive officer of eHealth Queensland and responsible for the rollout until late December, resigned two weeks ago for “personal reasons” after Queensland Health director-general Michael Walsh referred allegations of an undeclared personal relationship to the Crime and Corruption Commission.
Health Minister Steven Miles immediately ordered the halt of a second major eHealth Queensland digital project, the $200 million patient administration system replacement.
In Question Time on Thursday, opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates asked the premier Annastasia Palaszczuk about the status of the integrated electronic medical record (ieMR).
“The Auditor-General has exposed that Queensland Health's ieMR project is $256 million over budget,” Ms Bates said.
“The CEO of eHealth Queensland has resigned under corruption allegations and medical staff say that the project puts patient safety at risk.
“Will the Premier finally order a halt to the rollout of this project until all of these issues are resolved?”
A Brisbane Times investigation has shown a series of errors caused by the ieMR, including blood tests labelled with the wrong patient data, personal information going into the wrong patient record, data going missing and clinicians struggling to use the unintuitive and poorly-designed software.
Ms Palaszczuk said she understood that some of the matters raised by Ms Bates were still before the CCC.
“I am happy to come back in relation to that matter for the House, but I do not want to jeopardise anything that is happening with the CCC and I do not think that any other member in this House should,” the Premier said.
“There are some very serious allegations and those allegations need to be investigated thoroughly.”
It is understood the CCC was already investigating eHealth Queensland before Mr Walsh referred the allegations to the commission.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Mr Miles had spoken to her about the rollout.
“In relation to the rollout, the minister has spoken to me personally about the importance of ensuring that that is up to date and that the project continues to be rolled out in the best interests of families across our state,” she said.
“I also know that the minister has stated publicly that there is an audit of IT projects in Health.
“I applaud the minister for taking this initiative and this step, because we know how important those updates are.”
The Premier said Mr Miles would report to Parliament once the scheduling assessment of all of Queensland Health’s major ICT projects was complete.
