John Conneely: Clinical Informatics Leadership Award 2023 finalist

eHealthNews.nz: Clinical Informatics

John Conneely: Clinical Informatics Leadership Award 2023 finalist

Thursday, 19 October 2023

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PROFILE - John Conneely, quality systems manager, Te Whatu Ora Te Matu Māui Hawke’s Bay

Judge’s quote
“John Conneely demonstrates a breadth of sector involvement well beyond his original clinical expertise. His tenacity and determination to fulfil the vision of digital implementation across systems and processes, made him standout amongst the applicants. Over the years, Conneely has demonstrated a tenacity and commitment to consistently engage and involve all key stakeholders, recognising that this work for him, has ‘been a marathon and not a sprint’.”

Nominator’s quote
“John Conneely has put in a ton of (mostly invisible) work - a very long and very painful slog. For 20 years he has been of slowly chipping away at it - thousands of small steps on the road (full of pot holes ) to full digital records.”

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Profile
John Conneely has spent the last 20 years quietly working with the IT department at Te Whatu Ora Te Matu Māui Hawke’s Bay to move the Mental Health and Addictions Service (MH&AS) away from being wholly paper-based, to now almost 100 percent digital health records.

In 2008, he enabled the contracted NGOs to become integrated into the former DHB’s patient administration system, which meant no more fragmented health records across different providers. It provides a single health record for all those who need access to it, including all GPs in Hawkes Bay, and at no cost to NGOs.

He has taken the burden of Programme for the Integration of Mental Health Data (PRIMHD) compliance and reporting away from contracted NGOs, freeing up their resources to engage with people in need.

Conneely has also built a whole suite of business intelligence reports – so that planners, commissioners, funders, managers, clinicians and NGO staff can see clinically and operationally useful information such as MH&AS dashboards.

Impact
Conneely has participated in the design and development of a number of products and applications, including the patient administration system and clinical portal. He consistently works to ensure the digital design supports practitioners and enables the electronic applications to be fit for purpose and adding value to day-to-day practice.

He also contributes regionally with enthusiasm and passion, working across the Central Region to enable digital architecture and functionality that supports end users to meet expectations and ensure outcome measures that are user friendly and efficient.

Within the Hawkes Bay, he has worked to establish and monitor electronic and digital health record requirements. He has made continuous efforts to present data in an objective, consistent and understandable way, reflecting outcome measures that enhance practice and experiences for the end user practitioners and ultimately the clients and whānau accessing mental health and addiction services.

Competence and capability
Conneely’s experience with health records, digital tools and his clinical mental health nursing experience and practice give him insight and understanding of the use of IT clinical tools, and measure and how they can enable and support day-to-day clinical practice . His credibility and recent currency of clinical presence provides staff with support and a real understanding of the demands of face-to-face practice.

Conneely is a "never say no " type of person: he will always find a way to help and has immense capacity to sustain his work with people. He is capable both in the clinical and electronic spheres and has the motivation and energy to make a real difference for clinical and support staff and the people we provide services for.

Stakeholder engagement
Conneely has forged relationships and sustained local networks with many stakeholder over 20 years.

He has worked across the health sector supporting and enabling all NGO mental health and addiction providers to meet reporting requirements. He works tirelessly to maintain engagement and provide information and instructions that are easily understood by non tech-savvy practitioners.

His warm, approachable style and calm demeanour makes people feel that any question is OK to ask. Over many years, Conneely has been the person who keeps on presenting and educating about functionality and requirements of digital health records, outcomes measures, and IT tools.