EXCLUSIVE: National Oracle Solution live at four DHBs

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eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

The National Oracle Solution has gone live at the first four DHBs and the system is performing well, says New Zealand Health Partnerships acting chief executive Steve Fisher.

The programme has now been paused while NZHP, which is leading the design and build of NOS on behalf of the country’s 20 DHBs, develops a business plan for further work.

Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Waikato and West Coast DHBs went live with the system on 2 July. Fisher says the go-lives were smooth and the system is performing well.

The national financial management and procurement IT system has been the centre of controversy this week, following the release of an independent review of NOS by Deloitte, detailing the challenges facing the project that have led to major delays and cost overruns.

Despite this, the report recommended that wave one of the Oracle applications go live at the first four DHBs, but with increased support and oversight.

In line with this recommendation, NZHP received a letter from the Ministry of Health in late June saying that NOS should be deployed to the first four DHBs and this happened in early July.

BOP DHB general manager information management Owen Wallace says NOS' core function is working well and "users are becoming more familiar with the system as time goes by".

Fisher says, “this is a great step forward and something few would have thought possible even 12 months ago".

NZHP continues to support the DHBs using NOS, such as answering queries, resolving issues and scheduling updates, but the rest of the programme is “paused”.

Health Minister David Clark said this week that further work on the system has been suspended while his officials review a plan to develop a business case by NZHP.

He says more than $100 million has been spent developing the solution since the original business case was approved in 2012, but there is “little to show for” the investment.

“I’m expecting advice on this in coming weeks. I’m not in a position at this point to offer a view on the future of the programme,” he says in a statement.

Fisher says NZHP was also asked by the Ministry to prepare a plan for a new business case and submitted this in mid-August.

“We have been advised to get preliminary work underway on the business case itself. That is now our focus,” he says.

The MoH commissioned Deloitte late last year to review the NOS programme to inform its advice to the Government after NZHP asked for a further $22.8 million to fund the project.

All 20 DHBs have approved the latest revised timeline and their portion of the additional funding.

But the review says substantial further investment would be required as this extra cost does not cover DHB implementation and change management costs, Pharmac change costs, ongoing support and maintenance or future roll-out waves.

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