Children’s Health Ireland to implement interoperability platform

Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) is working with data technology provider InterSystems to implement an interoperability platform at the new digital children’s hospital in Dublin.

InterSystems’ HealthShare Health Connect will be rolled out at the hospital, which will provide care for children and young people who require specialised and complex care.

The new digital children’s hospital is under construction, with the building expected to be ready by March 2025.

Adrian Rath, chief technology officer at CHI, said: “We will have over 70 advanced clinical, operational, and corporate support systems in use at the new hospital, and so it is vital that everything communicates seamlessly.

“We are confident in the ability of InterSystems HealthShare Health Connect to ensure uninterrupted interactions among these systems, as that will be pivotal in delivering superior service experiences for patients and staff”.

He added that the platform has a “user-friendly interface that allows our engineers to quickly create interfaces without having to spend time writing lines of code”.

The platform exchanges information between different systems in a hospital, with the aim of reducing duplication of data entry and saving time for staff.

Colin Henderson, country manager for InterSystems UK&I, said that the platform enables “a fully connected healthcare environment”.

“The interoperability facilitates clear communication between healthcare professionals, enhances patient safety through real-time information that drives efficiency by automating key processes.

“We are grateful that CHI chose InterSystems as their interoperability partner, and excited to see how this technology will transform patient care and operational workflows at CHI’s new Dublin hospital,” Henderson said.

When the new children’s hospital opens, digital technology is planned to be involved in everything from electronic health records and the systems controlling the buildings, to automated pharmacy dispensing and the movement of supplies around the building by robots.

CHI is leading on the clinical and operational transformation of acute paediatric healthcare in Ireland. It is the client for the new children’s hospital project, including two new paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres at Connolly and Tallaght.

Last month, Ascom won a tender to implement its alert and notification management system at the hospital as part of a five-year partnership with CHI, the InterSystems partnership the latest to further boost the digital capability of the new facility in Dublin.

This story was amended at 16.37 am on 11 July 2024 to amend the date that the new children’s hospital will open.