Adding spark to rural health services

MHS runs a fully equipped operating theatre in a purpose built 20m bus. It travels the length of New Zealand offering surgical services to rural areas. The bus does a five week cycle clocking up 50,000km a year and has performed 18,500 operations.

Spark Digital provides broadband to the unit using a dual option service that can resort to 3G from 4G and vice versa as required. This connects the bus to central health record systems and to services like Virtual Clinic, a video conferencing service for health professionals.

Virtual Clinic allows smartphones, tablets, desktop and laptops and room-based video conferencing systems to connect to the ‘connected health community’.  

MHS uses Virtual Clinic to run video conferences for surgical skill training, and to keep in touch with the wider health community. 

Mark Eager, MHS general manager, says business wouldn’t be able to provide its mobile surgical bus without the rural network coverage.

“The mobile surgical bus means people can be looked after in their own communities without long journeys to the nearest city hospital. It aims to fill the gap left by rural hospital closures and deliver the kind of service found in large centres.

“Thanks to the bus, surgeons can do dental, plastic, gynaecological, orthopaedic work or general surgery. The only limit is procedures need to be completed in day.”

Eager says the medical technology used in the truck is the same as in any hospital operating theatre, though things are different when it comes to handling patient records.

The unit is largely paperless with information sent over the internet using Spark mobile broadband and stored in the cloud. He says: “All patient information is sent over the internet. A fast secure internet, with great rural coverage is essential.”