Bethesda, Microsoft partner for new clinic

Bethesda Health Care’s new mental health clinic in Cockburn will be the first health facility in Australia to use Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare in its day-to-day operations.

Following today’s announcement and its completion in August 2022, the clinic will use Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare as its patient administration system.

The private healthcare provider is partway through the construction of a new 75-bed state-of-the-art mental health facility south of the river.

Bethesda will be the first healthcare facility in Australia to install the cloud-based system, which will be overseen by implementation partner Velrada.

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare combines capabilities from other Microsoft programs including  Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to bring together patient information from different existing systems into one place.

This information can be used to create a longitudinal record of the patient, with the data then able to support improved consumer care and clinical insights, data analytics, machine learning and potential for artificial intelligence.

Bethesda chief executive Neale Fong said adopting the technology came at a critical time for Western Australians.

“Having the cloud-based system allows an incredible amount of important data to be exchanged from multiple operational and clinical sources, creating more connected consumer experiences, where the consumer is in control of what is shared and who it is shared with,” Mr Fong said.

The project has an estimated completion value of $60 million, with a recently proposed second stage to cost about $14.5 million to build.

Subiaco-based architects Silver Thomas Hanley designed the facility.