Queensland’s Director-General for Health John Wakefield has ordered a review of Far North Queensland’s new Regional Information via Electronic Records (RIVeR) system after serious criticism from clinicians and unions.

RIVeR, which is based on Telstra Health’s Communicare platform, has been rolled out to 28 rural and remote sites in the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) and Torres and Cape HHS (TCHHS) regions but there have been calls for the project to be paused by one union, while another is advising members to use alternatives if they think RIVeR is creating serious safety issues.