Canterbury District Health Board looks at infection surveillance system options

New technology is being investigated to track infections in Canterbury.

A district health board that is looking at options for a new national infection surveillance system says it has nothing to do with Covid-19.

The Canterbury DHB has issued a tender asking suppliers for information about ready-built systems to monitor and control infections.

The current system called ICNet has been used at Canterbury since 2012, and more widely since, though some DHBs, including Taranaki, still are not hooked into it.

It was now gauging if there were competing systems that might require the DHB to run a full tender for a new national system, Canterbury DHB's executive director of finance and corporate services, Justine White, said in a statement.

The pandemic has demonstrated major difficulties in DHBs trying to share data about testing and contact tracing.

The current system did help the DHB respond to Covid-19 but this market research tender was planned before that, the DHB said.

The tender document says the system must be able to "instantly" alert infection control teams to new clusters and patient admissions.

"It is critical that our health system works together to support a cohesive approach to infection prevention and control nationally."

The system must be highly secure, but at the same time it must be able to share data across DHBs and also with other healthcare organisations, including "private healthcare facilities".

"Users from other DHBs where the patient has not received care, must not be able to see the patient's data," it said.

It must be Cloud-based and an off-the-shelf product that does not require significant product development, but could be customised to each DHB.

"This is a unique opportunity to be part of the expansion of a major New Zealand-wide health initiative," it said.

Even as the market research is going on, the current system is being expanded to link in more DHBs using ACC funding.