New health MEC wants patient record filing system fast-tracked
Simelane-Zulu was speaking during a surprise visit to Northdale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg where she expressed concern with the keeping of patient records
NEWLY-appointed KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu says work will continue to ensure that an electronic filing system is installed at all health facilities across the province.
Simelane-Zulu was speaking during a surprise visit to Northdale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg where she expressed concern with the keeping of patient records.
She said a digital filing system will ensure patients do not wait on benches for a long time before they receive medical attention.
‘We are still on paper admissions and when you look at how the system is actually done, it’s not convincing that we were able to deal with it thoroughly.
‘Of course, the Department had tried in the past two years to put in a new Information Technology system and there were challenges. So, we are going to have a proper briefing in relation to that and see what else can be done.
‘In this day and age one of the things we need to be able to do better is to move towards a paperless society because it’s much quicker. And it makes things much better rather than to have a clustered room full of papers. We are going to work on that,’ Simelane-Zulu said.
In the KZN 2018/19 budget, former health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said the department had started scanning patient documents electronically.
He said Queen Nandi Memorial Hospital in Empangeni, Newcastle, Edendale, Prince Mshiyeni War Memorial and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospitals would be prioritised in the first phase of the migration to digital record keeping.
‘The project is being pursued in conjunction with the implementation of Health Patient Record System (HPRS) and will improve patient file retrieval leading to reduction in waiting times.
‘It will improve easy referral and access of clients’ information at different points of service delivery including point of entry and subsequent referral facilities,’ he said.
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