Palliative care client management system

As part of the National Health Service Agreement, palliative care services are required by the Commonwealth to report on their activity. To achieve this objective, South Australian services developed a South Australian Minimum Data Set (SAMDS) to reflect service activity. (Appendix 1) This SAMDS was designed for local use while also anticipating the likely requirements for a National Minimum Data Set (NMDS).

In conjunction with the Information Management Division (IMD) of the South Australian Health Commission (SAHC) and the Software Engineering Services unit (SESU) of the IMD, a software package was built to reflect the collection requirements of the SAMDS. This software package is known as the Palliative Care Client Management System (PCCMS).

Implementation of the PCCMS was delayed for 18 months due to a lack of uniform computing software or hardware platforms to support data collection requirements. Delays also occurred because some services expressed concerns that they lacked human resources, education and technological expertise to cope with the introduction of a new software system.

Funds were allocated by the SAHC to employ a project officer to help overcome these resource issues and ensure services could meet the requirements of the National Palliative Care Agreement (1998). It was essential that this person was familiar with the business of palliative care from both a clinical and managerial perspective and was computer literate. The project officer was seconded to work with SESU and Palliative Care Services to ensure the PCCMS was implemented throughout South Australia within an agreed time frame and budget. The project officer determined a project plan based on initial consultation with key stake-holders.

The main objective of this project was to provide South Australian Palliative Care Services with a software programme capable of reporting on service activity data to the SAHC, the Commonwealth Government and individual service providers.

Secondary objectives were to provide services with a software programme which could be used in client / patient clinical management, programme audit, and research.