Shayne Hunter reflects on data and digital role on eHealth Talk podcast

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

Outgoing deputy director-general Shayne Hunter believes data and digital will play a key role in enabling access to health services and addressing equity, increasing capacity, and releasing time to focus on the patients most in need.

After nearly three and a half years in the role, Hunter steps down at the end of this month. In the latest podcast episode of eHealth Talk he gives insight into the numbers, challenges, and learnings during his tenure.

Hunter says Book My Vaccine is just one of the many digital channels that created the capacity for the health service to spend time on more vulnerable New Zealanders who needed more support. Over 90 percent of New Zealanders who booked a vaccine used the online self-service option.

The Ministry calculated that consumers would have spent an additional 100,000 hours on the phone if the self-service booking option was not available and over 750 percent more call agents would have been needed. This enabled call centre to focus on the people with most need for support and address equity expectations.

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Doing it online meant the investment in Book My Vaccine paid for itself in a single week in August, says Hunter.

The data and digital directorate, with the support from across the sector and technology suppliers, “built more than 100 applications or services as part of its Covid-19 response. We released new software almost every day across a range of different tools without any major outages”.

All this while keeping the lights and enhancing a range of other national systems and data platforms. Hunter says as a number of the Covid applications have been patient-facing, they have been used by millions of people over the past two years.

The Ministry created a service called My Health Account and had 3.5 million people create one over 14 days, with 3.1 million of these people creating a verified identity. This allowed them to issue more than 2 million My Vaccine Passes within two weeks of the launch.

“It has been a massive effort, not just by the Ministry, but by DHBs, primary, community and Māori health providers, as well as technology suppliers. Also, the Ministry of Social Development as part of the Care in the Community response to Omicron,” he says.

“People we’ve worked with in the tech space through Covid, in the Ministry and across the sector, are absolutely outstanding and I've enjoyed the culture of camaraderie that has developed.”

Hear more from Shayne Hunter in episode 28 of eHealth Talk. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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