
Health Department IT outage affecting COVID-19 testing, patient files across N.L.
CBC
A province-wide IT systems outage is causing problems with some of the Department of Health's services related to COVID-19, as well as clinical and administrative systems used in the treatment of patients.
According to a news release from the department Saturday night, several parts of the province's online COVID-19 hub are affected, including the online travel form required for visitors, the form for COVID-19 testing and the portals used to submit out of province vaccination documents and view COVID-19 test results.
In a emailed statement to CBC News on Saturday, the department said travellers arriving in the province with completed travel forms can provide the reference number from their documents, along with identification, when they arrive. If a form is not already completed when they arrive, travellers can use a paper copy.
Those who require COVID-19 testing should call 811, the department said.
The outage is also affecting operational, clinical and administrative systems used by the province's health authorities.
In a statement, Eastern Health said Meditech, the main information system used to manage patient care and finance information, is affected, as well as PACS, the system that provides access to medical images like X-rays.
Central Health said there could be delays in emergency services related to the outage, while Western Health said patient wi-fi is also affected.
Both the Health Department and the health authorities are working with the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information to try and resolve the issue, and have also shifted to paper where possible.
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