NZ health IT company gains intl recognition

MEDIA RELEASE
April 20, 2009

New Zealand health IT company gains international recognition

An award-winning Auckland health IT company that enables doctors, nurses and other medical professionals all over the country to connect with each other live via videoconferencing has won an international plaudit for its work.

Vivid Solutions’ contribution in developing a national telehealth network has been recognised as a Laureate in this year’s Computerworld Honours Programme – one of only two New Zealand companies, along with Paymark, to gain the distinction.

The programme acknowledges individuals and organisations that have used information technology to benefit society, with the work of those honoured preserved and protected in national archives, and in over 350 universities, museums, and research institutions throughout the world.

The recognition sees Vivid Solutions join an elite circle of fellow Kiwi Laureate companies such as Weta Digital and Air New Zealand.

“This is a tremendous honour and we are very humbled by the recognition,” said Vivid Solutions managing director Simon Hayden. “We set out to put people together, and in a sense, that has been our biggest reward – when families and medical professionals are able to share their experiences and collectively work on improving treatment and care.”

Vivid Solutions was formed in 1999 as TelePaeds, a partnership between Starship Foundation, the Paediatric Society of New Zealand and 10 founding District Health Boards. As a non-profit incorporated society, its aim was to ensure equal access to specialist medical care for all children regardless of where they live.

Its success – and growing demand across the health sector – saw TelePaeds become Vivid Solutions in late 2008, a business entity providing nationally-focused health-based videoconferencing and connectivity.

Today, the network connects hospitals and small regional medical centres in 20 out of 21 district health boards around the country, enabling medical professionals to speak face-to-face with one another, share medical knowledge, and discuss specific cases.

“A number of smaller, provincial and rural communities have difficulties in attracting medical staff because of distance, isolation from colleagues and an inadequate local critical mass to support them professionally and personally. Our network provides a means of addressing this professional isolation,” said Mr Hayden.

Auckland paediatric palliative care nurse specialist Karyn Bycroft said the service has linked up the widely dispersed paediatric community in New Zealand.

Terminally ill children and their families also have a direct videoconference connection from their homes to a hospital-based specialist team, she said.

“This enables the children living in rural areas to continue to live at home with their families – where they are most comfortable – whilst continuing to receive specialist care.”

Vivid Solutions chairwoman Patricia Wright said it was very exciting to see something initially developed for the paediatric community now proving a useful tool for families and other medical specialties.

“While health-focussed video networks exist around the world, New Zealand has never had a nationally-focused, fully-supported network of this kind in health. This is the first of its kind in New Zealand.”

John Ivil, Ministry of Health procurement and office services manager, commended Vivid Solutions for their support to the Ministry since October 2008. The Ministry and VSL have implemented a videoconferencing solution that has provided high definition videoconferencing connectivity between 12 Ministry sites and the wider health community.

“The solution has proven efficient, cost effective, and has allowed the ministry to reduce travelling time and costs. The videoconferencing solution has been quickly embraced by ministry staff.”

The value of the service has seen Vivid win a number of accolades, including a Health and Disability Innovation award from the Ministry of Health, a NZ Computerworld Excellence in Innovation award, and a TUANZ Innovation award.

In its 20th year, Computerworld Honours is the longest running global programme recognising individuals and organisations that use information technology to benefit society.

Each year, the programme’s chairmen's committee – a group of 100 chairmen and chief executives of global technology companies – nominates individuals and organisations around the world whose visionary application of information technology promotes positive social and economic progress.

Nominations are evaluated by an independent board of judges who select Laureates, Finalists and award recipients to be honoured at the Laureate Medal Ceremony.

“Each Laureate selected for this honour understands the importance of using one’s resources and technical prowess to benefit one’s fellow man,” said Bob Carrigan, chairman of the Computerworld Honours Programme chairmen’s committee and president, IDG Communications.

Honourees are commemorated at the 20th Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony & Gala Awards evening on June 2 in Washington DC.

About Vivid Solutions
http://vividsolutions.co.nz
Vivid Solutions started out in 1999 as TelePaeds, a non-profit incorporated society providing medical videoconferencing to New Zealand’s paediatric medical community. A partnership between Starship Foundation, the Paediatric Society of New Zealand and 10 founding district health boards, the aim was to provide a core communication network to ensure equity of access to specialist medical care for all children regardless of where they live.

Its success – and growing demand – saw NZTPS become Vivid Solutions in late 2008, a business entity providing national health-based videoconferencing and connectivity.

Vivid is the only national provider of medical videoconferencing and telemedicine facilities for the health sector and currently provides more than 1000 hours a month of managed videoconferencing for clinical communication, medical and nursing education and workforce development.

More than 500 medical personnel around the country access its services weekly, with hospitals and regional medical centres in 20 out of the 21 district health boards connected to Vivid’s national telemedicine infrastructure.

Among its services include:

• Hospital to Home – real-time, managed, videoconferencing connection enabling 24 hour access to medical care for paediatric palliative care patients living in remote areas.
• Nursing Workshops - delivery of specialist nursing workshops on topics such as pain management and oncology delivered from Starship hospital and which are regularly attended by centres as far a field as Dunedin and Whangarei.
• Teaching - connectivity for the teaching of ear, nose and throat services staff between Auckland and Hamilton, as well as the FRACP paediatrics teaching programme delivered nationally and internationally.
• Paediatric Oncology - dedicated videoconferencing support for the widely dispersed members of the national Paediatric Oncology Steering Group, enabling regular face to face meetings and clinical case reviews.
• Cardiology - enabled the formation of a national Cardiac Inherited Diseases panel consisting of cardiologists, pathologists, geneticists and researchers involved in the diagnosis and management of potentially fatal inherited heart abnormalities.
• Genetics - a monthly national half day patient review session conducted via the network for geneticists from Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
• Special events – connectivity for special events such as a link-up with the North Pole, direct to Santa, for children being treated in Starship over Christmas, and the Parent to Parent videoconferencing network, a virtual support network for families with children with rare conditions.

Note to editors: Vivid’s network is used in the following district health boards:

• Auckland DHB
• Bay of Plenty DHB
• Canterbury DHB
• Capital & Coast DHB
• Counties Manukau DHB
• Hawke's Bay DHB
• Hutt Valley DHB
• Lakes DHB
• MidCentral DHB
• Nelson Marlborough DHB
• Northland DHB
• Otago DHB
• South Canterbury DHB
• Southland DHB
• Tairawhiti DHB
• Taranaki DHB
• Waikato DHB
• Waitemata DHB
• West Coast DHB
• Whanganui DHB

ENDS

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