NZHIT: Time for some positivity!

Return to eHealthNews.nz home page

Regular column by Scott Arrol, CEO of New Zealand Health IT (NZHIT)

In my last column I focused on the issues being experienced when it comes to areas such as procurement and the roll-out of large healthcare and health IT projects. We’re all aware of the recent war stories with the likes of the bowel screening programme, National Oracle Solution, SmartHealth, Project SWIFT and the National Infrastructure Plan making sure there’s a negative cloud hanging over any attempts to make progress.

Of course, the easy thing is to keep throwing these up as examples of the system failing once again and yet another reason to hold back the advance of technology as an enabler of healthcare delivery. With this in mind, I was really pleased to see positive leadership in action with the recent announcement by the Waikato DHB that the SmartHealth service is being stopped at the end of April.

The publicity surrounding the past events associated with this service have highlighted the importance of good governance and how one person can influence the lives of many others. The investigations are still underway and I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this situation yet. I certainly hope that the lessons from the past two years will be learnt.

Interim chief executive Derek Wright and acting chair Sally Webb have stepped in during an incredibly difficult period for this DHB and prevented what could be described as a complete implosion of the organisation. These roles are not easy at the best of times, so it’s not hard to imagine the challenges they’re having to deal with daily, while providing confidence that the DHB can work its way out of the current situation.

That is why the SmartHeath decision is so important. How often in the health sector do we see wrong decisions compounded and made worse because there is a reluctance to admit a mistake has been made and then good money thrown after bad? In this case, the chief executive and board are sending a clear message that they’re prepared to make the tough decisions while being transparent in telling us about it. At the same time, they have provided leadership that demonstrates they understand the importance of engaging people in the process.

The DHB’s announcement on its website is worth reading, and the following quote from Wright is significant:

“We may look at how we provide this kind of service in the future, and the reviews will certainly help guide us in that. We have learned lessons from how we rolled out this service and in future will involve our clinicians and community before we look at new ways of working.”

He’s saying that telehealth can still play its part in the future, but they’ve got to make sure the key stakeholders are fully involved in the process. As a part of this, don’t be surprised to see a much greater level of engagement with the primary, community and home-based care providers, as this is where the rubber meets the road and the greatest gains can be made when it comes to reducing the load on emergency department and hospital admissions.

Telehealth technologies essential for future of healthcare services

The danger with the SmartHealth situation is if it gets used as a reason telehealth should no longer be considered as a viable technology solution to enable healthcare delivery. Of course, it’s always difficult to avoid this happening if it suits someone’s specific agenda to hold the tide back.

However, the future is here now, as New Zealand already has several telehealth-supported services underway. The NZ Telehealth Forum and Resource Centre is a good place to start for more information and it’s great to see so much collaboration and innovation occurring across the sector.

To support the Forum and the advancement of telehealth technologies, NZHIT members have formed the NZHIT Virtual Health Industry Group, which is made up of industry organisations that provide telehealth-related technologies to support healthcare delivery. John Ashly, the Selwyn Foundation’s chief operating officer – community, is the newly appointed chair of this group. He will be providing the next eHealth News Industry View column as an update on this group’s focus.

Also, don’t miss the Emerging Tech in Health Symposium to be held in Christchurch on 22 May, as this will cover technology trends including telehealth, virtual health and mHealth. The session entitled Virtual healthcare – does this mean robots will be our doctors? is sure to gain a lot of attention!

Read more about the 2018 Emerging Tech in Health Symposium.

Scott Arrol is the CEO of New Zealand Health IT (NZHIT).

Return to eHealthNews.nz home page