Wairoa rural nurse specialist and prescriber Nerys Williams with the Starlink-connected car.
Wairoa rural nurse specialist and prescriber Nerys Williams with the Starlink-connected car.
A car fitted with a satellite on its roof is enhancing the healthcare being delivered in the most remote area of Hawke’s Bay.
In Wairoa, Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora kaimahi like district nurses, midwives and physios travel long distances across remote, back-country roads to visit patients. Until recently, this meant working long periods spent outside mobile coverage – making the job much harder.
The installation of a Starlink satellite on top of a Toyota Rav 4 has removed all mobile black spots.
It’s providing mobile and internet coverage to previously unconnected areas.
It’s been a “game-changer” for Wairoa rural nurse specialist and prescriber Nerys Williams. High-speed internet connectivity goes everywhere she does.
“I now have access to key patient data while I’m out and about. It means I can double-check a child’s immunisation record, download a patient’s latest blood test results or X-ray and change appointments in the system,” she says.
Starlink sends a signal to a satellite in space and comes back, at up to 425Mbit/sec. In comparison, people with fibre at home typically get download speeds of 300Mbit/sec.
Nerys Williams with patient Mark-Shane Tuuta-Rurehe.
Data and digital lead service improvement analyst Sym Gardiner says Starlink is a key tool for clinicians who work in remote places.
“It allows clinicians to access any system available in the hospital, no matter what the cell coverage is like in the area they’re working. They can even access clinical records if the power goes out.
“The high-speed internet allows clinicians to download big patient studies such as cardiac ultrasounds – essentially a video recording looking at the structure of the heart [which] can contain up to 160 images.
“Clinicians can access these images and recordings just as quickly – sometimes even faster – than if they were working at the hospital. This is enabling our healthcare kaimahi to do their job no matter where they are.”
Sym demonstrated this by logging on to a Teams video call in Tuai, a small township 45 minutes inland from Wairoa, and chatting to clinicians in Hastings. Normally, cellphone coverage would be patchy at best.
The Starlink connection is facilitated by a power box in the boot of the car which charges while driving. Once stopped, it has about eight hours of power. An internal aerial provides internet coverage to those inside the car while an external aerial creates a Wi-Fi bubble with 50-60m of range.
It means clinicians like Williams can use their laptop and phone inside a patient’s home while the car is parked outside.
While visiting a patient in Tuai, Williams was able to record his blood pressure and change his next specialist appointment to a time that was better suited.
Williams says not only does it give her better oversight of clinical records, it saves her time at the end of the day.
“I’m far more productive. Now I can enter data and notes straight into the system rather than having to take written notes and re-enter the information at the end of the day.”
Mark-Shane Tuuta-Rurehe says it’s fortunate for him that Williams can call in and do her checks, as he relies on a carer to drive him into Wairoa and back – about a two-and-a-half-hour round trip.
“Nerys’ visits really help; otherwise I’d be back and forth to Wairoa, and it cuts into my time with my carer,” he says.
Gardiner says the Hawke’s Bay data and digital team had been working on a way of connecting remote workers for the past few years, and then Cyclone Gabrielle highlighted the need for this technology.
“The Starlink helps our rural kaimahi in their day-to-day delivery of healthcare and it has enough ‘oomf’ for an office of about 20 people to run off.
“If we have another cyclone, where both ends of the fibre are cut, Wairoa’s got nothing. We’re not going to let that happen again. Starlink means staff can still make calls and log on to our private network to access the systems they need,” Gardiner says.
“Satellite connectivity is a key enabler. In emergencies, you can set up a mobile emergency centre clinic from anywhere with full communication and health information capability.
“It’s enhancing the care we deliver and making us more resilient, should another natural disaster occur.”
