Innovators tackle WA healthcare’s greatest challenges at 2024 Hackathon

An ingenious new approach to reducing Emergency Department waiting times was the main winner of the WA Health Hackathon 2024, which saw participants devise solutions to some of the challenges facing the state’s healthcare system.

Hosted by the Curtin University-based WA Data Science Innovation Hub (WADSIH), the Hackathon saw technologists, software developers and other participants develop and pitch their exciting ideas, with a shortlist of finalists progressing to the Hackathon Finale on October 24.

The HBF WA Health Hackathon Prize went to the ‘Waiting Around’ team, with Honourable Mentions going to Coder Dojo and Torab. The Technical Achievement Prize was awarded to The A* Team, while the Youth Achievement Prize went to Polarstate.

WADSIH Director Alex Jenkins said the Hackathon was an invaluable opportunity for teams to collaborate with the best and brightest in WA’s technology sector, while working to develop solutions that could transform the state’s healthcare system.

“Participants were given access to supporting data and expert mentors as they created digital solutions and new technologies to address challenges such as improving end-of-life care and predicting Emergency Department wait times,” Mr Jenkins said.

“Teams also had access to cutting-edge synthetic data to help bring their ideas to life, with the potential to prototype their solutions.

“This year’s main winner, ‘Waiting Around’, leveraged technology to improve the quality, efficiency and accessibility of healthcare services, by devising a simulation tool to predict Emergency Department waiting times and communicate this information to patients via a mobile phone app.”

‘Waiting Around’ team member Conor Bennett said wait time predictions are made based on a range of factors and this information is also supplied to the hospital, which uses it for its analytics and to optimise patient wait times.

“We’re now aiming to get our innovation trialled in an actual Emergency Department, to get important feedback from hospital staff as well as patients, and see how we can most practically implement the system,” Mr Bennett said.

The WA Health Hackathon 2024 was presented by WADSIH, the WA Department of Health, WA Life Science Hub, the North Metropolitan Health Service, the Child and Adolescent Health Service, and Arkahna.

WADSIH is a State Government initiative, supported by Curtin University, that aims to keep WA at the forefront of the digital revolution by promoting the education, training and application of data science throughout WA.