A remote telestroke service first piloted by Capital and Coast DHB that has now been permanently adopted in the Central region is being rolled out to Midland DHBs, with Northland implementing its own version and Canterbury DHB bidding to act as a hub for the South Island.
The service involves neurologists at large metro hospitals providing advice by video link to clinicians at regional hospitals, with the former equipped with x-ray image systems on 4G/Wi-Fi-capable iPads and the latter working with a portable telestroke unit from Auckland telehealth firm Vivid Solutions, which started life as the NZ TelePaediatric Service.