decision makers involved in healthcare provision and ICT and, as Ireland progresses with its programme of reform, it marks the perfect opportunity for all these stakeholders to engage in the sort of informed dialogue that Kevin Conlon, Head of ICT in the Irish Department of Health, says is so badly needed now if the reform is to be successful. Of course, this sort of dialogue has been taking place all over the
A
world for many years now, with mixed success it has to be said, and there are many who believe that the time has come for the talking to stop and for implementation and action to begin. These people have a point – the technology is developed, we all know what it can do and so it’s time to make decisions and devise the systems, build the architectures, train the staff and deliver better healthcare. Would that were so simple! Everyone involved in the provision of
healthcare services must look at what will work best in their own country – what systems already exist, how much is being spent on ICT in healthcare, what are the core areas of need and how can we ensure patients are kept at the centre of any solution? These are just some of the many questions that must be asked and with the answers, systems devised. So Kevin Conlon is right to call for dialogue
s Ireland looks to publish its eHealth Strategy in June this year and have in place a regulatory framework for health reform by the end of the year, it’s the perfect time for the country to be hosting eHealth Week, 2013 in Dublin.
The event, brings together industry, academia and public sector
pace of change, particularly in South Africa. A feeling of trust between all stakeholders must be encouraged, and politicians must all be prepared to work with the private sector in delivering the most appropriate solutions at an affordable cost. As Kevin Conlon rightly says in his interview, the time for pilots is over and decisions must now be made in Ireland. The same is true of South Africa. Of course, while the readiness for reform and the strategic approach
being adopted may be similar in both countries, it would be foolish to suggest that Ireland and South Africa face the same health challenges. South Africa, like all African nations, faces a far greater critical disease burden, with the proliferation of disease like HIV/ Aids and TB demanding huge resources and very specific solutions that don’t exist in Europe. Meanwhile, South Africa’s rural population is largely disconnected in terms of the ICT infrastructure and levels of eSkills are low compared to Ireland. Add to this the very different picture that exists in terms of patient identity in the two countries and you begin to see the very different solutions that will be required.
But the common ground remains and that is
“As Kevin Conlon rightly says in his interview, the time for pilots is over
in Ireland, particularly when there is a legacy of failed ICT provision by government and that the opportunity for the development of an eHealth ecosystem that benefits the whole economy has been identified as a driving force of the proposed reform. It is not often that parallels between Ireland and South Africa can
and decisions must now be made in Ireland. The same is true of South Africa”
be drawn, but I believe that in terms of the development of eHealth there are some interesting areas of common ground from which both countries can move forward. At the heart of these similarities lies the recognition that ICT needs
to be a central force for change and at the centre of any health reform. In Ireland and as Kevin Conlon states, reform will come following clear direction from the Department of Health and that this will be forthcoming soon in the form of an eHealth strategy document. In South Africa, a National eHealth Strategy document has already been published this year and, though any implementation plans have not been forthcoming, there is acknowledgement across the board that there is an opportunity to improve health care dramatically by adopting better patient record systems and maximising the potential the adoption of mobile technology across the population gives health providers. In Ireland, the support from government for placing ICT at the
heart of reform is, perhaps, a little more resolute than it is in South Africa, where some politicians argue that the case for eHealth has yet to be proved. Perhaps at the root of this mistrust in South Africa lies another common feature of the two countries – the commonly- held belief that money has been “thrown” at ICT by government before and there has been little to show for it. While this may be true of some notable development failures in both countries, it would be a shame if this were to slow down the
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com
that ICT will help deliver better healthcare, more efficiently at less cost in both countries. It won’t be the same systems, but the process will be the same and the need for governance structures, architecture building, clinical adoption and putting the patient at the centre of any system are the same. Perhaps the biggest lesson that South Africa
can learn from Ireland is the need for an eHealth champion to help drive through the changes needed and coordinate the right conversations between stakeholders that lead to real change. eStrategies Africa is a programme Insight has been helping coordinate for several years,
helping to bring all stakeholders together to deliver the change needed to implement real eHealth solutions in African countries. Most recently working in South Africa, eStrategies produced a
series of roadmaps for the continued development of eHealth in South Africa. You can read these in a special online publication at
www.estrategies
.co.za. Insight will also be involved in eStrategies Tanzania, an event
being hosted in October this year by the Honorable Dr Seif Seleman Rashid, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Welfare in the East African country, where eHealth is a rapidly-rising priority in government policy. The event, which will also be attended and opened by Tanzania’s President, will bring together public and private
sector stakeholders
involved in the provision of health services and, through the sort of dialogue advocated by Kevin Conlon in Ireland, seek to speed up implementation and delivery of better eHealth solutions.
★
For more information about the event and how you can be involved, visit the website
www.estrategies.co.za or call Chris Hull on +44 (0)1453 521 322 or on +44 (0)776 355 1395. Email Chris at
chris.hull@
zen.co.uk
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