Peter O’Halloran is the National Blood Authority’s Chief Information Officer and Executive Director of Health Provider Engagement. Peter is responsible for the provision of services to health providers and ICT systems supporting the Australian blood sector.

It is excellent for Pathology Horizons 2015that Peter is joining us and will give a talk entitled “Interfacing, automation and the internet of things – the digital disruption of transfusion laboratories is happening now”.

Named by iTnews as the 2015 Healthcare CIO of the Year, Peter uses ICT systems to reform and reshape the Australian blood sector in a collaborative manner that improves patient outcomes and actually saves money.

In Peter’s view, the digital transformation of transfusion laboratories in Australia is well underway and is transforming the provision of these essential clinical services. His talk will review the transformation of the Australian blood supply chain and show how the ongoing developments of new and existing national systems such as BloodNet and BloodSTAR provide both opportunities and significant challenges.

Peter will also explore how real-time monitoring of the supply chain and transfusions could change provision of pathology services.

Possibly the greatest mystery of all in Peter’s opinion will be discussed: why  is it that Australia has a world-leading solution that enables haemophilia patients in the community to record in real-time their bleeds & infusions and notify their clinicians, but are still unable to comprehensively implement computer assisted transfusions at the bedside in our hospitals ?

Peter joined the Australian Public Service in 2006 after more than a decade designing and managing service delivery in the university and not-for-profit sectors. Currently responsible for ICT, health provider engagement and corporate services, Peter has diverse experience across both service delivery and corporate support.