Data and Digital Futures: Shayne’s View

eHealthNews.nz: Covid-19

Monday, 4 April 2022

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VIEW - Deputy director-general data and digital, Shayne Hunter

MoH speaker tile Two years is not a long time when it comes to the evolution of technology, however, an enormous amount has been achieved since the COVID pandemic began.

More than 100 systems have been created as part of the COVID response and together these have more than 22,000 users across the system.

Nearly 3.7 million consumers now have access to My COVID Record and the COVID Tracer app, which was built by over 400 people across 20 suppliers.

And I’m pleased to say that we are increasingly seeing data and digital and technologies getting the recognition and the investment they deserve.

Care in the community
We have now moved into a phase of supporting ‘care in the community’ in response to Omicron.

This brings together a whole suite of the COVID-19 information platforms that we use; contact tracing, border management, testing, vaccinations, as well as a clinical and welfare solution called the Covid Clinical Care Module (CCCM).

CCCM is about connecting providers and patients and whanau through a shared integrated view of community care and welfare plans that ensure that people's needs are understood and are being met.

This package of tools is about freeing up capacity in the system, so that the people in most need can get the attention required and we can create a more manageable load across general practice and hospitals, whilst ensuring equity of access.

Maximising gains
Our next focus is about maximising recent gains to think strategically about the future and building on the momentum shift in digital health.

We would not have achieved the same speed, scale or coverage in our Covid response through our more traditional approaches.

Modern ways of working have enabled us to operate differently and respond rapidly to policy changes and put in place a technical solution. We've been able to iterate quickly and learn and adapt based on feedback, and over time, we've been able to empower people.

We now have a blueprint for national capabilities supporting locally delivered services and this is something that we want to take forward as we as we head into the future.

One of our strategic objectives, off the back of creating ‘care in the community’, is to develop a model blueprint (and the technologies) to allow us to respond to any condition that can be treated in home or the community, and continuing to relieve pressure across the system.

We have been trying to do this for years, so the challenge now is to get the basics right and capitalise on the momentum created by today's circumstances.

Realising value
There are many forms in which value has been delivered through the investments made during COVID.

We have created a different and better experience for consumers and workforce, recognising that one size does not fit all when it comes to technology approaches.

Although there is plenty of evidence to show the value of the technology versus the traditional approaches, for example - the difference in cost to the system of someone making a digital booking ($2.60) versus making an assisted booking using people is $36.

Experience over the last couple of years has shown that there is still a high demand for traditional approaches and this needs to be factored in our design phase early on.

Only then will we have created a foundation for an integrated digitally enabled health capability as we move forward.

We also need to leverage the shift that we've had in the role of digital to not just being an enabler, but being a partner and a thought leader to the business, which is what we've seen through COVID.

It’s about realising the art of the possible and will mean thinking about our technology operating model and how we can embed ourselves into the transformation.

We have a huge opportunity ahead of us and it's a really exciting time to be working in the health system, with plenty of opportunities as we consider our working model going forward.

This is an edited version of Shayne Hunter’s keynote presentation at the HiNZ Digital Health Conference 2022. If you are registered for the conference you can watch his keynote and other presentations on-demand until 31 May.