Health data strategy and action plan released

eHealthNews.nz: Information Governance

Thursday, 9 December 2021

Share |

NEWS

data strategy The Ministry of Health has released a strategy and two-year action plan to improve the way health data is collected, managed, shared and used.

Actions include establishing a national collections data service, developing equity measures for data standards and creating ways for people to authorise others to access their health information.

Ministry of Health deputy director-general data and digital, Shayne Hunter says the health and disability system collects a lot of data but needs to be more effective at connecting this with other data and “using insights to provide the best possible health care or to ensure the system is equitable, sustainable and performing well”.

“Data is often duplicated, it’s not always digitised which makes it harder to access, and there are variations in the way information is recorded,” he says.

The Ministry has published a Data and Information Strategy for Health and Disability and two-year Roadmap outlining a set of actions across five priority areas. These are; data foundations, equity and data sovereignty, consumer participation, people and leadership, data and information accessibility.

In the first six months the Ministry will establish a national health and disability data and information implementation group and develop a health and disability data maturity model, as well as establishing a national collections data service.

In the second six months it will develop and publish a national health and disability data catalogue and dictionary as well as a consumer health data literacy service.

“This Strategy and Roadmap describe the work that needs to be done over the next couple of years so New Zealanders are clear about what happens to the information they share with health and other providers,” says Hunter.

He says the health and disability reforms emphasise the need to engage with people about the collection and use of their personal health data.

“There are really important questions to be answered about how data is governed and what the rights, roles and responsibilities are around data and even what we consider to be data given advances in technology,” he says.

The Ministry will work with sector leaders and others to deliver the Roadmap.

“As a sector we began taking stock of what’s working well and where we need to improve prior to the health reforms, but the transition to a new operating model for health and disability provides opportunities to really accelerate that work,” Hunter says.

“It’s also important to look beyond the health and disability system, as so many other things have an impact on people’s health and wellbeing. We need a whole-of-system approach to health data and information, which involves working more effectively with other agencies which are using health data to address issues such as access and equity.”

He says inequities in health outcomes are driven by socio-economic factors outside of health, but also by access to services and treatment within the health and disability system, and there is a role for better access to and use of data and information to help achieve equity.

“We’ve also learnt a lot from the way we’ve been able to use near real-time data and analytics in the Covid-19 response; data has been essential to the effectiveness of New Zealand’s pandemic response and we want to build on that to ensure data and information flow to the right parts of the health and disability system,” Hunter explains.