The race to trace
and save lives

Even in Tasmania, where we are relatively isolated from the rest of the world, we felt the impacts of COVID-19. In March 2020, then-Premier Peter Gutwein declared a State of Emergency and a Public Health Emergency for Tasmania, activating significant control measures to help stop the spread of COVID-19, including mandatory testing and isolation requirements.

The Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) was stood up to manage the public health aspects of Tasmania’s COVID-19 response. It rapidly became clear that traditional systems and processes would struggle to cope with the unprecedented nature of the virus, the sheer volume of cases, and the dynamic and rapidly changing environment.

Public Health needed to quickly develop and implement new teams, processes, and systems that were sufficiently scalable and adaptable to the changing environment, accessible by all Tasmanians and visitors, and easy to understand and operate by the increasing number of staff who came on board. But where to find the experienced resources to help implement this significant change and support the system and process development?
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That’s where GSD came in.

At GSD, we’re committed to getting inside a project to better understand it and the people and change impacts that come with it. With this project, we needed to do this while also hitting the ground running: lives were on the line.

We embedded ourselves in the project team, sitting alongside nurses and epidemiologists, so we had the health experts on hand. We also had a close working relationship with the technology vendor, ensuring this was a business-led, not vendor-led, solution. And then we needed to roll it out.

Systems and processes for automated receipt of laboratory-confirmed cases, public self-reporting systems, an intuitive track and trace system, bulk communications, hotel isolation and COVID@home referrals, and a case and outbreak management system were up and running in the shortest time possible, with reviews, iterations reviews and adjustments to meet the changing needs of PHEOC and the community.

The rapid stand-up and onboarding of an emergency workforce was also critical, particularly in times of peak activity, so we helped design the systems and processes to support this.

The Tasmanian COVID response projects have been recognised for enabling the critical work of both the Communicable Disease Prevention Unit (CDPU) and the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) through the delivery of fit-for-purpose systems, processes and change programs.

Supported by these projects, PHEOC and CDPU were able to deliver meaningful and timely support to the Tasmanian community when it needed it the most.