Funding is separate to the existing budget for the New Dunedin Hospital and has been specifically provided to complete digital requirements for the new Outpatient building.

Digital requirements include physical elements such as check in kiosks and digital signage and information boards. It means patients will be able to check in at the hospital and receive updates on their phone about when their appointment will take place.

New software will also allow Dunedin to become a more paper lite hospital. Clinicians will be able to access more of the information they need from the electronic clinical portal rather than a paper medical chart, enabling them to access information immediately, from anywhere, and allow multiple clinicians to access the same information at once.

Behind the scenes, the funding will cover networking including free wi-fi for patients and whānau and building management solutions.

The health sector in general will also benefit from the initial investment that has been made in the design of the digital infrastructure as much of this design can be reused by other hospital builds.

Read Minister’s announcement - Govt strengthens commitment to new Dunedin Hospital