Hubs, funnel and fund established to encourage innovation

eHealthNews.nz: National Systems & Strategy

Hubs, funnel and fund established to encourage innovation

Saturday, 13 April 2024

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A national network of innovation hubs, an innovation funnel and innovation fund have been established by Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.

One hub has recently been established at Wellington Hospital, while another at Ko Awatea at Middlemore Hospital will open in May, and a hub in Canterbury is in planning stages.

More than 100 ideas have also been submitted through a new innovation funnel, with 17 funded so far.

Jon Herries, group manager of emerging health technology and innovation, says data and digital and service improvement and innovation within Health NZ are working together to develop a work programme to “harness the power of innovation more effectively across health and care services in New Zealand”.

Three pilot innovation hubs are at various stages of development in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

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“We want to create an exciting space where staff, consumers and whānau can connect; be inspired by a showcase of innovation, tools and technology; understand innovation work happening across the country; collaborate on innovation projects and build Health NZ’s innovation capability,” he explains.

“In the future we will engage with communities on how they can use our innovation spaces. We would also like to extend access to industry partners and other potential collaborators so they can connect with clinicians, consumer, whānau and other experts,” says Herries.

An innovation funnel has also been established as a mechanism to attract innovative ideas, screen for viability and advance the best ideas and prototypes. This is being trialled before opening it up to all Health NZ staff so that they can understand how it works and contribute ideas.

Seventeen of more than 100 projects submitted have been funded so far, to either proof of concept or proof of value stage.

One of these is AI for clinical coding, which uses AI to read discharge summaries and apply the correct discharge code, to speed up production and visibility across hospitals of summaries.

Another is Diabetic Retinal Screening (DRS), a model of care for delivering DRS in the community.

Health NZ will use the funnel to capture information about other innovation projects happening across the organisation and is looking at how to better collaborate and partner with industry, universities and others, says Herries.

Medtech IQ Aotearoa has also set up four regional medical devices and digital health innovation hubs in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. These are collaborations between universities, Health NZ hospitals, and other organisations such as councils.

Medtech-iQ Tāmaki Makaurau strategic partnerships director Diana Siew says these will sit alongside and partner with the Health NZ hubs, operating as different doors into the same innovation ecosystem.

The focus of the Medtech iQ hubs is to develop technologies that will be used, are scalable and sustainable. Also to develop capability nationwide, including talent and infrastructure.

“It is exciting because we have been working towards this for 12 years now,” Siew tells eHealthNews.

“Being able to connect back into Te Whatu Ora as one entity, instead of 20 hospitals, is really valuable. This gives context to health innovation in New Zealand and it joins up the dots so that you can accelerate partnerships.”

Picture: Jon Herries, group manager of emerging health technology and innovation, Health NZ