Better Meds starts its New Zealand journey 

The pilot project at Hāwera Hospital represents the first Better Meds solution deployment in the Southern Hemisphere.

Based on a successful UK partnership which is set to deliver Better Meds to two NHS trusts based in Dartford and Middlesborough, our collaboration with Alcidion is now extending to the Southern Hemisphere. Better and Alcidion have signed a partnership with New Zealand’s Te Manawa Taki (TMT) region District Health Boards (DHBs) for a pilot implementation of Better Meds.  

The engagement will begin with a pilot project at Hāwera Hospital, which is part of Taranaki DHB, serves a population of 120,000 people, and employs 1,800. Better Meds will provide the hospital with improvements to efficiency, transparency, and decision support for the critical care processes associated with medication management. Following the pilot’s successful completion, there will be a progressive implementation across all five Te Manawa Taki region District Health Boards.

Taranaki CIO Steven Parrish noted: “This project is ground-breaking in that not only is it the first regionally-led e-medicine trial in New Zealand, but it will also be the first instance of Better Meds in the Asia-Pacific region. Of all TMT hospitals, Hāwera was the logical location for the pilot due to its size and existing experience with eMedicine. Empowering clinicians with this technology reduces clinical risk, provides consistency in practice, and enables a more collaborative and coordinated approach to patient care between healthcare providers throughout the health system, supporting the delivery of quality, patient-centred care.” 

Product Director of Better Meds Roko Malkoč said: “At Better, we believe that the digitisation of healthcare is a joint human effort: rather than a matter of one country, it is a global issue. And there are stories of knowledge, collaboration, and success which must be shared. With Alcidion, we have proof that this belief works. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Alcidion team in the UK, and we are incredibly excited to start a digital transformation on the other side of the globe with them and the healthcare professionals across the Te Manawa Taki region.”  

Alcidion was appointed as a reseller and implementer of the Better Meds solution for the UK, Australia, and New Zealand in April 2019. The pilot project at Hāwera Hospital represents the first deployment of the Better Meds solution in the Southern Hemisphere. It will provide New Zealand DHBs with a choice when selecting closed-loop medication management solutions to improve care delivery and medication safety. 

Alcidion Managing Director Kate Quirke commented, “We are excited to extend our partnership with New Zealand DHBs beyond our Miya Precision, Patientrack, and Smartpage products to the implementation of electronic medication management throughout Te Manawa Taki region – the first in the Southern Hemisphere. We believe that the Better Meds solution will deliver measurable benefits to the DHBs, and we look forward to extending these across the region upon successful completion of the pilot.”