A new NBN satellite dish has recently been installed at the Mornington Island Hospital to improve the resilience of telephone and internet services in the area.

A joint initiative between North West Hospital and Health Service (HHS) and eHealth Queensland, the upgraded technology will improve the hospital’s day-to-day operations as well as providing public internet access in the facility.

With the distance from the mainland, the single link network connection on Mornington Island can experience dropouts at times, especially during severe weather events.

The dish is intended to establish backup network capabilities during periods of outage and intended to support the hospital during these events when access to enterprise systems is critical.

Helen Murray, Chief Information Officer for Rural and Remote said staff were looking forward to trialling this new connectivity option.

“Staff at the Mornington Island Hospital will initially simulate having no connectivity except for the satellite dish and trial its effectiveness and efficiency,” she said.

“This addition is important to the future of business continuity on the island for both telephone and data networks and this trial will help both North West HHS and eHealth Queensland determine whether the satellite service will meet the needs of all our remote locations.”

The installation of the satellite dish comes just in time for the upcoming wet season.