Cue-X Case Study: NSW Health Perinate Emergency Response Line
CUE-X personnel had a four-part assignment to:
1. Identify, scope and "normalise" relevant data from all sources.
2. Evaluate, specify, and procure technologies, processes, professional services, and solutions that would present relevant normalised information instantly to rostered obstetricians.
3. Design processes and delegated authorities to accurately and immediately organise and authorise emergency services, hospital administrations, family, and others of the resulting decision and "case manage" the authorised arrangements.
4. To manage an RFI and the selective tender for suitable service providers and technology solutions needed to operate PEARL.
Organisation Changed Management played a critical role in the program, with hospitals' administrations, medical and nursing professions, unions, and other concerns and changes to well-established methods that required significant change.
Throughout this assignment, CUE-X personnel worked closely with several users and sponsor cohorts, RFI/T respondents, legal and procurement officials, unions, and others to build and retain consensus and buy-in.
CUE-X senior personnel completed the PEARL assignment on time and within budget when NSW Health executed the relevant contracts and service level agreements for all suppliers and onboarded the vendors.
A review of "birthing emergencies" and the resulting costs to NSW Health determined that the referring doctors and hospitals were overly cautious or inordinately risk-averse in most cases.
Across NSW and bordering towns of South Australia, Queensland and Victoria, hundreds of late-term pregnant women were being emergency transported to intensive care hospitals only to learn that medical issues were not dangerous at all, and the relieved parents to be, along with relatives, sent home embarrassed by the false alarm or over reaction.
Besides millions in costs for chartered jet and fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, ambulances, boats (offshore islands), police and other support services, the Health System was often unable to cope with real emergencies (i.e., not enough intensive care for mothers or babies). Consequently, hospitals often could not adequately support the life-threatening cases.
PEARL (Perinatal Emergency Advice Response Line) was an NSW Health mission-critical 24*7 centralised service. PEARL instantly connected doctors and hospitals to an authorised senior obstetrician with authority to determine genuine life-threatening emergencies or whether another approach was warranted.
Crucially, the senior obstetricians required immediate access to media records, test results, referring doctor's case notes, and other records to make an accurate determination.
If the obstetrician determined a situation was life-threatening or very high risk, they could authorise hospital beds, intensive care units, emergency travel, accommodation, equipment, and specialists.
Since the mother and baby's life was at risk, PEARL demanded real-time amalgamation of patient information to present to the obstetrician. Midwives, patients, referring doctors and others' confidence in the obstetrician's final decision depended on all relevant information being available. That information often included paramedic's diagnosis during patient transit or emergency services air, boat and road transport's advice of delays or travel impediments.
Critical to PEARL's functionality was the ability to instantly access information dispersed across seven Health Districts, 100+ hospital systems, adjoining states' hospital and patient information systems, ambulance, air services, police escort and other emergency services.
About CUE-X
CUE-X has a team of experienced consultants and contractors that work across many of the major federal government agencies. CUE-X specialises in the advice, delivery, management, recruitment, training and development of ICT programmes, voice of customer, customer data, business transformation, programme management and organisational change. Dan Marks is the Chief Executive Officer of CUE-X and has more than 20 years experience across government, Australian and global organisations. Dan is based in Canberra and works in government across major ICT program delivery. For more information go to www.cue-x.com
