The funding was awarded in yesterday's 2007-2008 South Australian state budget and comes after extensive lobbying by the department over the past few years.
According to a South Australian Treasury capital statement issued as part of the budget, the $11.5 million will be used to support the replacement of several IT systems, including the ageing patient administration platform.
A nursing administration system overhaul will also be at least partially funded out of the allocation.
The patient administration system (PAS) upgrade is expected to take between six to eight years to complete because it will run in parallel with a number of other computer projects such as finance and material management software updates.
The PAS project is part of a 10-year, $650 million information and communications technology capital investment program that has been developed by the health department's IT division.
Funding is not guaranteed for a large number of the projects outlined in the costly capital program, but SA Health technology executives believe the plan will allow them to mount more effective arguments for cash.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Ben Woodhead
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 08.06.2007
