Top Ten Stories - 2022

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

News of resignations and appointments in the data and digital health space garnered the most interest from eHealthNews readers in 2022, followed closely by the pandemic response.

The top-read story was that deputy director general data and digital, Ministry of Health, Shayne Hunter had resigned in May, and second most-read was that Stuart Bloomfield had been appointed interim chief data and digital at interim Health NZ in June.

Hunter was DDG at the Ministry, but the data and digital function moved to Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ when the new organisation was formally created in July of this year.

HiNZ board chair Karen Blake said at the time of Hunter’s departure that he had led the sector through one of its most difficult times and been absolutely fundamental to the Covid-19 response.

The pandemic, and the data and digital response, continued to interest eHealthNews readers this year.

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Third on the most-read list was news that a shared care record had been created for Covid patients.

This detailed how the Border Clinical Management System, developed for use in Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities, had been adapted for the community and renamed the Covid Clinical Care Module (CCCM). It went live nationwide in early 2022 for clinicians involved in the care of Covid patients in the community.

The CCCM made another appearance in seventh place, under the headline ‘Covid shared record causes cacophony of complaints’.

GP leaders spoken to by eHealthNews said in February that the CCCM was not fit for purpose and creating more work and stress when GPs were already exceptionally busy dealing with the high volume of Covid-19 cases.

We followed up in April with news that improvements had been made to the shared care record to make it more user-friendly for GPs.

Fourth on the list was news that Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) results were being made available to view on My Covid Record. This was in February when RATs were only available in pharmacies, but was later expanded to allow self-reporting of results.

The significant impact of Covid-19 on the wider health system has been widely reported on and acknowledged this year and next on the list of top stories was news that a national dashboard had been developed to monitor health system pressures.

Data included in the dashboard covers a range of sectors, such as primary, community, ambulance and hospital services, to indicate in real time any pressures and trends over time.

Workforce shortages are being felt across the health sector, and a story about Te Whatu Ora chief executive Margie Apa calling on the data and digital workforce to join Health NZ and work “on the frontline of digital transformation”, was the sixth most-read of the year.

“Data and digital will transform how our people, whānau and communities experience and access care across Aotearoa,” said Apa.

Continuing the pandemic theme, eighth on the list was news that pulse oximeters had been secured to remotely monitor isolating patients, as the country moved towards managing Covid infections in the community.

The appointment of four interim regional leads for data and digital across the motu was our ninth most-read story of the year.

Megan Milmine covers the Northern Region, Stephen Miller the Central Region, Garry Johnston the Te Manawa Taki Region, and James Allison Te Waipounamu and the interim roles run until March 2023.

Rounding off the list and linking back to where we started, tenth place was a View from Te Whatu Ora chief data and digital, Stuart Bloomfield, where he discussed funding the future of data and digital in Aotearoa and achieving Pae Ora.

We hope you enjoyed reading eHealthNews this year and look forward to bringing you more data and digital health news in 2023!


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