CiLN Award finalist - Ruth Large - Health Informatics New Zealand

eHealthNews.nz: Clinical Informatics

CiLN Award finalist - Ruth Large

Monday, 20 September 2021

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PROFILE – Ruth Large, Whakarongorau Aotearoa: New Zealand Telehealth Services, Chief Clinical Officer and Chair of the Telehealth Leadership Group

Judge’s comment

"Ruth has been a significant driver behind multiple digital health initiatives. Her leadership across services, organisations and professions has been evident in the national development and uptake of telehealth, localised digital health records, and regional digital accessibility. She is engaged across multiple stakeholder forums, promoting digital health equity and translating strategic vision into deliverable outcomes for the health population."

Nominator quote

"Ruth seems to be the go-to person when a project requires some leadership. I cannot remember many major projects within the Midland, and/or national region, in which Ruth's name has not been used. This demonstrates her valuable input as a leader and as a knowledgeable member of CiLN, and how well she is valued by her peers and colleagues."

Profile

Ruth has worked tirelessly for the advancement of telehealth in NZ.

She is the Chair of the NZ Telehealth Leadership Group, where she regularly chairs monthly webinars, promotes various working groups, and has built robust communication channels with the Ministry of Health, bringing the Group to its full potential.

In March 2021, she took up the role of Chief Clinical Officer at Whakarongorau, where she is working with the team on a number of progressive solutions and expanding the services.

She has also been a major participant in the Clinical Informatics Leadership Network and promoted numerous clinicians in their own pathways.

Clinical leadership

Ruth is an Emergency Physician and worked in both Thames and Waikato Emergency departments, where she encouraged upskilling of clinicians at both sites to provide patient care in Thames hospital via telehealth, rather than having to transfer patients to Waikato.

As Clinical Director Information Services at Waikato DHB, she led the integration of video appointments into the Patient Management System to streamline processes and make them more user friendly and acceptable to clinicians.

At a regional level, Ruth was the Chair of the Midland Telehealth Advisory Group until December 2020. She worked with CIOs, project managers and information services staff on creating environments that enabled telehealth appointments to be provided.

Her work has supported the implementation of telehealth in GP practices and DHBs throughout New Zealand during the COVID lockdowns and, by liaising with the Ministry of Health, she was instrumental is getting agreement for ePrescribing during this time.

A focus on equity

Ruth has a strong equity focus. She has met with the General Manger of Maori Health in a number of DHBs to raise the profile of telehealth and advocate for those who cannot attend appointments in-person due to financial and transport hardship.

The work that the Telehealth Leadership is doing around competency includes a strong cultural competency lens.

The effect of her current work at Whakarongorau translates to many NZ citizens, who now have better access to quick and helpful telehealth-based services, including for Mental Health and Cancer. Her focus will also translate to reducing some of the equity-based gaps in NZ when it comes to access to services.

Competence and capability

Ruth has a vast scope of knowledge, ranging from hardware to software; and from system to people-systems. She shows a masterful ability to navigate the complex corridors of the MoH departments and related NGOs, when leading solutions towards their resolution.

These achievements heavily rely on her personal and professional competence, both in medicine and Health IT and also on her capable approach towards people and technical solutions.

She has a great personality a very supportive approach and makes herself available to those in need. She is good at getting to the heart of issues and provides thoughtful advice about the ways in which telehealth can be used to benefit patients.