The State Government of Queensland, Australia, released a new government ICT strategy earlier this month, determining the technology priorities and directions of public sector agencies for the next five years.

The strategy identified several key areas of focus, recommending the provision of services through different channels, implementation of IT projects in stages, and procurement of ICT-as-a-service rather than infrastructure.

FutureGov spoke to Susan Middleditch, Deputy Director General, Systems Support Services Division at Queensland Health, about the implementation of the ICT strategy in her organisation. Queensland Health provides a range of services to achieve good health and well-being for citizens, including hospital inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services.

New ICT initiatives

“The first recommendation of the strategy – revitalising front-line services – means two things for Queensland Health”, states Middleditch. “Firstly, we will provide health services in new and contemporary ways, and secondly, we will provide our health community, including public and private providers, with the ICT tools necessary to have a connected health service”.

Queensland Health already has a number of new ICT initiatives underway. A telehealth project will allow patients in rural and remote areas of Australia to consult with a doctor in another part of the country. “The first stage of the telehealth project is underway now”, explains Middleditch. “The Government has provided additional funding in 2013-14 for six trial sites. The same project will also allow us make appointments all across the state, though this is a longer term consideration which is still only in concept stage”.

Another ICT initiative that Queensland Health is working on is a new Patient Administration System which will provide up to date technology to clinicians and administrators to manage patient care and records efficiently. “We don’t know the investment required as yet, but it will be significant”, says Middleditch. “Our current sytem is out of support, so we will be looking for a whole new technology”.

Procuring ICT-as-a-service

A major recommendation made in the strategy was the procurement of ICT as a service from providers, rather than each government department owning high-cost infrastructure that requires expensive and constant maintenance. “The Queensland government is committed to partnering with the private sector to reduce the ‘ownership’ of ICT assets”, declares Middleditch.

“We are currently working on a number of strategies to divest ourselves of as ICT assets”, she continues. “We have launched a corporate services and solutions renewal project, which is leading the way for the Queensland Government corporate services area as a whole. We are also looking into allowing our finance and payroll solutions to be delivered in this manner”.

MIddleditch expects that the data storage and archiving functions in Queensland Health will be outsourced to private providers, along with application hosting, maintenance and support. “We first need to manage risk, and ensure that the private sector is mature enough to provide us with the services and the controls we need”, she says.

“The implementation of this new strategy will reduce our costs of ownership dramatically, and, in partnering with the private sector, should give our staff and patients access to the best of breed solutions”, declares Middleditch.

“The new strategy is about a future that is fiscally sustainable and secure, and enables us to focus on service delivery”.