Premier promises investigation after electronic record system crashes

AN investigation will be held into why Queensland Health’s new electronic medical record system crashed at every hospital that uses it on Tuesday.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised an investigation into ongoing health IT issues. Picture: Matt Taylor.

AN investigation will be held into why Queensland Health’s new electronic medical record system crashed at every hospital that uses it on Tuesday.

The Courier-Mail revealed ieMR collapsed at 14 hospitals for three hours on Tuesday, with staff complaining of blown out patient wait times and chaotic scenes.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday said there would be an investigation.

“I will get a briefing on that,” she said, after having landed from her 2032 Olympics mission in Switzerland.

“(Health) Minister (Steven) Miles will update me. My understanding was that it was for a short period.”

The Opposition seized on the IT bungle, with Leader Deb Frecklington claiming Labor wasn’t listening.

“Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Labor Government should have listened to the doctors who said don’t roll this IT system out until it works and again Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Labor Government refused to listen to the health professionals,” she said.

Hospitals that were impacted included the Queensland Children’s Hospital, the Princess Alexandra and Queensland Elizabeth II.

Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington has accused the Government of ignoring health professionals in relation to recent IT bungles. Picture: Jono Searle/AAP

Queensland Health wouldn’t say whether any elective surgeries had been cancelled because of the crash. However a spokesman insisted its priority was patient safety and care, and “we are confident this is not being compromised.”.

“All ICT systems, including the ieMR require regular upgrading and maintenance to ensure that the system runs at optimal performance,” he said.

“The ieMR digital hospital solution allows access to real time patient information and enables clinicians and service providers to spend less time doing paperwork and more time with patients.

“It also improves clinical collaboration across the state, delivering efficiency gains and supporting best practice clinical care and research.

“We’re working closely with the vendor to address quality assurance processes that will further mitigate the risk or similar issues occurring in the future.”

The collapse is the latest in a string of issues impacting Queensland Health’s IT projects.

Its brand new $135 million hospital purchasing system, S/4HANA, caused havoc for weeks across hospitals after launching in August.

The rollout of ieMR to Metro North and Darling Downs hospital and health services has been delayed until 2021.