Ministerial Statement

ENTERPRISE PATIENT ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts) (15:17): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: With regard to questions asked in the house yesterday by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition about the Enterprise Patient Administration System and eHealth initiatives, I provide the following information.

I am advised that a full cost-benefit analysis has been performed, and EPAS has a comprehensive benefits realisation plan. This was part of a cabinet decision and is subject, of course, to normal cabinet protocols.

In relation to staffing of the eHealth Program Management Office, a small project management office has been operating with six employees, providing reporting and support for individual projects. An eHealth project management office is now required and is being established to monitor and avoid duplication on projects operating under EPAS, including ESMI (which is for imaging), EPLIS (which is for pathology) and other eHealth projects such as the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and Oracle.

I am further advised that in the division of the department known as eHealth systems, there are 358 full-time equivalents. This division provides leadership in developing and implementing information, communication and technology initiatives across SA Health.

In relation to the deployment of EPAS to country sites, I am advised that SA Health owns an enterprise licence for EPAS so it can deploy the software to any SA Health site. There are bandwidth limitations, as the member would know, in rural South Australia that we hope will be addressed by the National Broadband Network over the next few years. Once EPAS has been implemented into the metropolitan hospitals and the two large country sites, a review will be undertaken as to further EPAS deployment options.