The Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC PHN) is set to launch a two-month trial of a new eReferral system aimed at streamlining the referral process between GPs, private specialists and public hospitals, and is also exploring how to use the My Health Record system and NSW's HealtheNet architecture to improve information sharing between aged care facilities and the wider healthcare system.
The eReferrals project is tapping into the expertise of New Zealand's Best Practice Advocacy Centre (BPAC) for the technology. There are several eReferral systems in use in NZ, with the BPAC solution used by the five district health boards in the Midland region of the North Island to send over 900,000 eReferrals over the last five years.