Collaboration and video technologies support innovation and improve patient outcomes at one of New Zealand's fastest growing District Health Boards

Bay of Plenty District Health Board provides health and disability services for the fastest growing District Health Board (DHB) in New Zealand.  It delivers health services through two major hospitals and a network of community based facilities across one of the country's largest DHB geographies.  It is committed to continuous innovation in its service delivery to meet the changing and growing needs of the region.  

A key to the Bay of Plenty District Health Board's future success is its ability to evolve its IT capability to meet the needs of its patient population. Collaboration and video technologies introduced by the DHB are improving the way hospital, community clinic and clinician communicate and work together across the region.

Video technologies and the DHB's teleworking initiative allow multi-disciplinary clinical teams to work collaboratively on patient cases, regardless of where individual practitioners are located, which is improving patient referrals and outcomes. Read the full case study  here.

Around 30% of Bay of Plenty District Health Board employees telework.  This includes support, administration, clinical and managerial staff.  Teleworking gives the DHB productivity benefits and cost savings while critically ensuring faster clinical diagnosis which is improves patient outcomes.

"The challenge for Bay of Plenty District Health Board is its geographic size, the growth of its population, and the demand to keep on top of the ICT adoption curve that the healthcare sector has to manage,' says Geoff Lawrie, Country Manager for Cisco Systems. 

"The DHB has adopted leading healthcare technologies and practices and 'work anywhere' practices, including teleworking, to support its clinical and operation activities for the benefit of its patient population.  Their integration of technology with clinical best practice is exciting and visionary."

You can find out about Cisco's Health Presence technologies here.