Cortex goes live at Burwood Hospital

Burwood Hospital went live on Cortex on 29 January.

Burwood is Canterbury’s rehabilitation and older persons’ health campus, where stays are measured in weeks rather than days and progress is made by interdisciplinary teams: physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, nurses, and doctors all contributing to one plan. Until January, that plan lived in paper files.

“We no longer need to waste time looking for or waiting to use physical sets of notes,” says Alana Reid, the project manager who led the transition. “With Cortex, notes are written and viewed in a more timely manner, speeding up decision-making and discharge planning. The benefit for patient care with staff able to access and view notes regardless of where they are is something we are really excited for at Burwood Hospital.”

Staff have commented they were surprised at how easy the application is to use.

The rollout belonged to Burwood’s own people, who designed forms, sat on steering groups, and completed training ahead of go-live, with support from Christchurch Hospital’s Clinical Nurse Specialist Stacey Simpson and General Surgeon Saxon Connor, whose department ran the original Cortex pilot in 2017. The go-live date moved more than once before it stuck; the extra time ironed out issues, and the eventual rollout was smooth.

Burwood is the second hospital campus running Cortex end to end.