Twelve Days of Christmas: Tablets help bring Plunket up to speed

Katrina Coleman says she is looking forward to using a tablet in the field.

Auckland Airport is giving $120,000 to charities as part of its 12 days of Christmas initiative this year. The Herald is profiling each of the winning charities.

For 100 years, Plunket has been doing things by the book - recording babies' information by pen and paper.

Now it is turning to technology to take it through the next 100 years; with all its nurses set to be armed with tablets.

The organisation, founded in 1907, is one of a dozen Kiwi charities to receive a slice of $120,000 in Auckland Airport's 12 days of Christmas initiative.

The money will be used to buy a dozen tablets for nurses to record clinical information - including vital checks, assessment and progress data - while out visiting parents and their babies.

The tablets will allow the nurses to record all data in real time and to store it centrally.

Rather than waiting to record the details on a separate filing system later, it will appear instantly.

Newtown, Wellington, Plunket nurse Katrina Coleman said she was looking forward to using a tablet in the field.

"It will make a big difference. It'll give us more time to provide care and education and actually do the job," she said.

Plunket's national president, Andree Talbot, praised Auckland Airport's Christmas giveaway, saying it was helping many within the community.

"We are extremely grateful to Auckland Airport for running such a fantastic campaign and using all of that left-over change in such a community-centric way."

A spokesman for Auckland Airport, Charles Spillane, acknowledged Plunket's contribution, saying: "We all know the fantastic role that Plunket plays in caring for New Zealand babies, so we are delighted to help this 107-year-old organisation move into the digital world."

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