Hospital computer system starts

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32959, 4 July 1972, Page 12

Hospital computer system starts

A §90,000 computer system at Christchurch Hospital was officially set in motion yesterday afternoon by the chairman of the North Canterbury Hospital Board (Dr L. C. L. Averill), who said that the installation was a pilot project for New Zealand. At present the system was associated only with chemical pathology at the hospital, but it would soon be extended to cater for all sections of the pathology department and finally to patient admission, he said. Present at the opening were board members, senior members of the board staff, and laboratory staff. Also present was Mr E. G. Heggie, the deputy Director-General of Health (Administration), who is also the chairman of the National Electronic Data Processing Committee (Health), which provided the money for the project. The computer was briefly described by Dr R. W. Carrell, chemical pathologist at Christchurch Hospital, who is in charge of the project. Mr Heggie (left) and Dr Averill are shown standing by the visual display unit which is used to control the computer. The operator’s orders and the computer’s replies show in the screen almost immediately.