"developing a national telemedicine network"
Welcome to the website of the NZ Telepaediatric Service (NZTPS).
Formed in 2000 as a non-profit incorporated society, NZTPS has developed a national telemedicine infrastructure connecting hospitals and many small regional medical centres, in 20 District Health Boards to a secure managed service.
The need for such a service arose from the review of the Paediatric Tertiary services conducted in the late 1990s, which identified the need for a telemedicine network as an enabling technology to provide equity of access to specialist services for patients and their famililies living in regional and rural centres.
Initially funded by generous donations from the Starship Foundation in partnership with the NZ Paediatric Society, the network was developed with significant input and in consultation with all levels of DHB personnel. The service was initially launched to eight centres in 2003, and by 2005 connected all Paediatric Services in the country to a single IP based network. NZTPS is a subscription based service with each DHB having uncapped 24/7 access to the network.
In 2005 the network was expanded and upgraded with greatly increased capacity. This has led to a rapid growth in the number of connected sites and network use for both Paediatric and non-Paediatric services.
NZTPS currently provides over 1000 hours/month of managed videoconferencing for clinical communication, medical and nursing education and workforce development. In addition, NZTPS can access ISDN networks overseas, for consultation and HR recruitment. NZTPS is now the only national supplier of medical videoconferencing and telemedicine for the health sector.
For more information regarding the service please click here.