SA Health overhauling its blood test IT system after delays in tests

SA HEALTH officials are scrambling to identify how many patients have been put at risk by a computer backlog that has delayed blood test results in the latest crisis to hit the department.

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SA HEALTH officials are scrambling to identify how many patients have been put at risk by a computer backlog that has delayed blood test results in the latest crisis to hit the department.

Thirty new staff have been hired to expedite data entry into the statewide Enterprise Pathology Laboratory Information System (EPLIS) after result waiting times blew out.

An overhaul of the SA Pathology computer-based blood test system will include prioritising urgent tests and devising an action plan to improve test times. The debacle mirrors the EPAS electronic patient record system, which was forecast to more than double in cost from $200 million almost a decade ago to $471 million in 2021 and was put on hold by the new State Government after being partially implemented at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

EPLIS was supposed to improve blood test procedures but an Auditor-General’s report shows the cost increased from $30 million in the 2012-13 budget to more than $33 million — plus $2 million for associated costs — by May 2017.

SA Health officials are scrambling to identify how many patients have been put at risk by a computer backlog that has delayed blood test results in the latest crisis to hit the department. Picture: iStock

Clinicians’ complaints about the time for results blowing out by an undisclosed time has prompted the overhaul.

SA Health now has established a new taskforce to improve SA Pathology testing times, which will review all incidents relating to test delays logged in its Safety Learning System — the system that lists adverse events or events that potentially could cause risks for patients.

The taskforce will check to see if any patients suffered adverse outcomes due to delays.

SA Health deputy chief executive Don Frater blamed the increase in test turnaround times partly on complex data-entry requirements.

“Since the introduction of EPLIS we have seen the wait times for some laboratory test results increase for hospitals and GPs,” Mr Frater said.

“We know timely test results are essential in providing prompt and appropriate care for patients, and these delays have the potential to impact the level of care being provided.

“We have established a taskforce, headed by Dr Tom Stubbs, to look at the reasons for the delays, to determine the impact on patient outcomes, and to recommend any additional action needed to ensure test turnaround times return to normal.

“Following feedback from clinicians, the taskforce will also review the reporting format for the test results and if any errors have occurred as a result.

“In the interim, all urgent tests are being prioritised and an action plan has been developed by SA Pathology to improve the timeliness of pathology test results for doctors.”

Health Minister Stephen Wade

SA Health will hire 30 new staff to help with data entry and also train and redeploy some existing staff for data entry, as well as:

IMPLEMENT new systems to reduce transit times for urgent tests.

WORK with the EPLIS provider to improve system performance.

EXPEDITE the transition to full electronic test ordering at Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to reduce data entry requirement for SA Pathology staff.

Mr Frater said the moves would help return the testing turnaround times to acceptable levels. “Our clinicians have been instructed how to request and receive results for critical and urgent tests during this time as we resolve this issue,” Mr Frater said.

EPLIS was supposed to be in action by June 2014 but the rollout only began at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in March 2017 and all metropolitan hospitals and regional laboratories are now using the system.

Health Minister Stephen Wade said the problems with EPLIS echo what he called the EPAS “disaster” and warned that both IT “failures” raised patient safety concerns.

“The former Labor government has left South Australia’s health system in a shambles with cost blowouts, technology failures and a demoralised workforce,” Mr Wade, pictured, said.

“The review and the employment of additional staff are important steps in stabilising the provision of pathology services.”

The blood test problems are the latest headache for SA Pathology, after false positive tests for men checking for prostate cancer — revealed by the Sunday Mail — led to the sacking of its boss Ken Barr in 2016.

SA Health was also condemned in a parliamentary report last year over the chemotherapy underdosing bungle in which four patients died.