‘Click, click, click!’: Waterloo Region hospitals to sync up digitally in 2026

Goodbye to paper charts and faxes, hello to “click click click!”. The Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), and Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH) are syncing up on digital records.

CMH President and CEO Patrick Gaskin said his hospital has purchased the same computer system WRHN is using, and 2026 will usher in fully digital patient care between all the hospitals in Waterloo Region.

Gaskin told 570 NewsRadio that the current treatment of patients between the hospitals means phone calls, paper documents and records, and even faxing.

But the new system will allow tests and other procedures to be handled completely online.

“In the past it’s a phone call, a fax machine, a paper chart, a record that’s sent out with a patient,” he said. “In the future it’s a ‘click click click’, and you’ll order the test.”

Gaskin said this will optimize clinical care across all the hospital sites, adding “it’s a super exciting time for us”.

CMH launched the project in November this year, and it will take about 12 months to install the new computer system and get it up and running, he said.

Gaskin and WRHN President and CEO Ron Gagnon spoke about the new digital sharing at the All Councils meeting in Elmira on Friday.