Health NZ balancing transformation amidst operational pressures

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora is finding the balance between managing its existing operations, while fundamentally changing the way it operates, says the organisation’s chief transformation officer.

Patrick O’Doherty spoke at the HiNZ Digital Health Leadership Summit held in Wellington on May 14-15 where he said the key to transformation is a “marked change” and most organisations who claim to be doing transformation are actually trying to provide a better vision of what they have today.

“Getting a faster version of what we have got is not going to solve the fundamentals that we have from a systems perspective, we need to fundamentally reimagine what the health system looks like,” he told the audience.

“How do we reimagine Health New Zealand as a digital organisation, but within the context of a digital health ecosystem?”

You’ve read this article for free, but good journalism takes time and resource to produce. Please consider supporting eHealthNews by becoming a member of HiNZ, for just $17 a month.

He said Health NZ has to continue delivering existing services, which are under a lot of pressure.

It is also in the very early stages of a major post-merger integration, probably the biggest and most complex in New Zealand history.

As well as these two challenges, it needs to fundamentally change the way it operates the health system.

“For any single organisation or entity, any one of those three areas is all consuming, huge and complex, so the message here is we have to find the balance.”

O’Doherty said there is no extra funding for the merger or for transformational change, so it has to come from within the health system’s existing budget

He said it can seem overwhelming when you are in the midst of it, but his experience of digital transformation at IRD shows it is possible to find the balance between managing an existing business and fundamentally changing the way it operates.

“When we talk about transformational change, having that vision for the future of where you are going is fundamentally critical,” he told the audience.

“We are all in this together and it is in all of our best interests to get this thing right.”

Picture: Health NZ chief transformation officer Patrick O’Doherty speaking at the 2024 Digital Health Leadership Summit in Wellington

To comment on or discuss this news story, go to the eHealthNews category on the HiNZ eHealth Forum

Read more National Systems & Strategy news

Return to eHealthNews.nz home page