ACT Health CIO Judy Redmond moves on after five years

The ACT government's health directorate is preparing to search for a new chief information officer after its IT leader of five years, Judy Redmond, vacated the position in December.

Acting CIO Warren Prentice.

Warren Prentice, who previously was a program manager overseeing military platform integration at the Department of Defence, is serving as acting CIO following her departure.

Prentice has held various IT-related roles with the RAAF, Australian Army, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Attorney-General’s Department and Microsoft.

iTnewsunderstands ACT Health intends to begin recruitment for a permanent replacement for Redmond in the coming months.

Redmond, who was appointed to the role in January 2011, oversaw the development and implementation of the public health provider’s ICT strategic plans, including an e-health strategy, electronic clinical records rollout and clinical mobility projects.

A major achievement for ACT Health during Redmond’s tenure was the implementation of a Patient Master Index (PMI), which provides patients with a unique identifier across all territory health facilities.

The introduction of the PMI paved the way for the deployment of a clinical portal that provides a view of clinical information from a number of different source systems, including the national health records system.

Its features include the ability to view diagnostic results and order medical images.

ACT Health also rolled out a range of medical-grade ICT network improvements during Redmond’s tenure, added wireless network connectivity to key ACT Health facilities, as well as free public wi-fi at Canberra hospital and three community health centres.

Building on these capabilities, an identity and access management system for centralised access to buildings, computers and IT applications has been rolled out across ACT Health, plus swipe card access for computers at the Canberra Hospital Emergency Department.

Looking to the future, a spokesperson for ACT Health told iTnewsRedmond’s successor will have the opportunity to work on a number of major projects over the coming years, including:

• An electronic medication management (EMM) solution
• An electronic ordering solution for pathology, including specimens collection and positive patient identification (PPID) technology
• Electronic clinical records for a range of community based services
• Replacement of the existing clinical records management solution
• An electronic clinical record for Mental Health, Justice Health, Alcohol and Drug Services
• An solution for electronic management of referrals within community based services
• Expansion of the electronic rostering solution
• A provider index, integrated with the National Health Service Directory