South African healthcare wins global recognition

Source: Provided.

The prestigious awards, presented across eight categories, recognise the achievements of outstanding professionals, teams and organisations from around the world.

Netcare was selected from 87 entries from 19 countries as the best example of using innovative digital solutions to improve quality management business processes and quality outcomes.

In selecting Netcare as the winner, the judges said the Netcare CareOn project was a world-class example of governance, assurance and effective project and change management principles.

CareOn has revolutionized the way healthcare is delivered in South Africa and around the world. The transition from a paper-based medical record system to a comprehensive electronic solution that serves hospitals, medical staff, patients and other key stakeholders required not only major technological innovation but also the development of new skills for thousands of end users.

Overcoming ingrained work habits and inherent resistance to change through collaboration, rather than coercion, sets this project apart from others.

Richard Friedland, Group CEO of Netcare, highlighted the staggering scale of the company’s digitisation, saying: “This is the gateway to a 10-year strategy to transform healthcare. Moreover, it will have a profound and lasting impact on patient safety and engagement.

“Healthcare is about more than treating illness; it’s about creating a future where every digital innovation is a tool that enables patients to be equal and active participants in their health and well-being.

“In our healthcare ecosystem, digital technologies and the rich, personalised data they provide are key to continually improving the services that matter most to patients. Our commitment to better outcomes and longer lives defines our journey at Netcare.

“With the power of data-driven and digitalised medicine and care, clinical decision making will be optimised and accelerated, which has numerous benefits for patients during their treatment. Up to 60% of hospital prescribing errors stem from misunderstandings of doctors’ written scripts. Providing electronic scripts eliminates legibility errors or misunderstandings,” he added.

Netcare’s digital healthcare transformation

With the launch of IBM Watson Health Micromedex, all medication dosages, interactions, duplications and allergies can be checked electronically, helping Netcare eliminate up to 60% of potential medication errors in more than 1.8 million inpatient prescriptions each year. Early indications are that the internal rate of return for the digitization project is expected to exceed 21% per year.

Friedland said Netcare’s move to build the CareOn system enabled the company to rapidly develop digital skills among nurses and doctors, while becoming southern Africa’s largest customer for the Apple iPad.

“With more than 13,000 iPads in operation across 45 Netcare hospitals, the biggest barrier was healthcare staff adopting technology. We anticipated this might be difficult for our nurses as many of them had never used a computer before, so we started with the basics, using games like Candy Crush to pave the way.”

Importantly, because the system is completely mobile, Netcare is one of the few providers that allows clinicians to access patient records in real time, at the bedside or outside the hospital, wherever they are.

Innovative digital healthcare integration

CareOn took seven years to develop and now has more than 34,000 users across seven provinces in South Africa. The system was developed by 40 dedicated workstreams in South Africa, Germany and India. Netcare selected an existing base system and then tailored it to the needs of the end users.

Gerhard Weiss, Director of Strategic Projects and Systems Integration at Netcare, added: “We are inspired by the huge difference this project is making to the lives of people at Netcare hospitals.”

“This award recognises the hard work our teams across the country have put in to develop the EHR system, as well as the infrastructure and training required to successfully implement this pioneering technology on such a large scale in South Africa.

“The innovative digital system leverages the digital integration of medical devices and instruments in intensive care units and operating rooms, allowing specialists and medical teams to remotely view patients’ clinical information, test results and vital observations in real time.

“Among the many efficiency gains this system brings is that it frees up nurses’ time, which can now be spent caring for patients. At the same time, a host of automated safety checks minimize the potential for human error. And all of these devices can now seamlessly feed integrated data into the electronic medical record,” Weiss noted.

In addition to improving the system to benefit healthcare providers, Netcare is also committed to digitally empowering patients to be active participants and owners of their own health and care.

When patients leave a Netcare facility, they take with them a summary of their care. If they are admitted to hospital at any time in the future, their healthcare provider will know exactly what care and medication they received. Just as importantly, a relationship is created between the doctor or specialist with whom the patient comes in contact, based on data that has never been available before.

“We are extremely grateful for this award, which reinforces our belief that digital efficiency is the future of healthcare. It guides practitioners to better serve patients and make healthcare more convenient, effective and people-centric. As we celebrate CareOn’s success, I want to thank every member of our outstanding team who has made this achievement possible,” concluded Friedland.