Working with the Australian Digital Health Agency, WA Primary Health Alliance is a key delivery partner in one of two Digital Health Communities of Excellence nationally, to support better connected health care, transition of care and digital health literacy.

Established in Port Hedland for a diverse population including the Aboriginal community, fly-in and fly-out workers, pastoralists and travellers, the project aims to:

• Connect all healthcare providers in Port Hedland to the national My Health Record system and provide training on how to use it and how it will benefit the community
• Run a digital literacy program for Port Hedland residents to empower them to take advantage of the benefits of digital health
• Showcase Port Hedland as a model for building Digital Health Communities of Excellence that can be replicated across Australia

Due to the excellent progress made, the Australian Digital Health Agency has granted a two-year extension, with learnings being used to inform a national implementation framework, the importance of this work is already making a difference on the ground.

“We rely on My Health Record to keep us updated on patient pathology, imaging, medication, dispensing and history records. We find it particularly helpful because a lot of our patients are transient, moving from one practice to another, so it can be difficult to get their comprehensive files.

With My Health Record we can see what other doctors have requested and performed, overcoming the delays waiting for records requested from other practices. We can also see what scripts were dispensed.

It’s invaluable that PathWest results are automatically available on My Health Record. This helped us a lot with the recent COVID-19 test results, where it was quicker to see the result on the patient’s My Health Record than to join the phone queue to get the result.” - Dr Yolande Knight, Senior Medical Officer, Wirraka Maya Health Service Aboriginal Corporation