10-year plan to guide digital investment

eHealthNews.nz: National Systems & Strategy

Wednesday, 19 June 2024

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The Minister of Health will consider new investment in data and digital later this year, when Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora delivers a new 10-year plan setting out the size and scale of investment needed for digital infrastructure.

Minister Reti tells eHealthNews that the Government recognises the need to invest in data and digital, and the new plan will mean the Government can “make informed decisions about putting resource where it will have the greatest impact”.

The May Budget recalled more than $330 million earmarked for data and digital health initiatives over the next five years.

However, it says data and digital funding will be returned pending work to prepare “investment-ready business cases for future investment”.

Chief data and digital Leigh Donoghue says Health NZ has been invited to shape up a business case for investment in digital modernisation.

“This recognises both the inheritance of Health NZ – a range of challenges inherited from previous entities – and the high potential of digital services to transform health services delivery,” he says.

“As a new entity, Health NZ will be developing a 10-year infrastructure investment plan including digital, to provide a robust long-term view.

“The 10-year plan will enable improved decision-making for the short- and medium-term, both by Health NZ (with its available funding) and by the Government through future budget processes,” Donoghue says.

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The Vote Health document identifies one of the key drivers for growth in expenditure in health as ‘enabling the health and disability system reform, including the operating costs associated with digital investment’.

Specific data and digital programmes cut in the Budget include the upgrade of the supporting information and communications technology for the National Cervical Screening Programme, the next tranche of the Health Sector Agreements and Payments Programme and funding for payroll system remediation and stabilisation.

Digital Health Association chief executive Ryl Jensen says the 10-year investment plan for the health system must feature digital prominently

She says it is critical to fund digital health at a level that makes a significant impact to improve not only health outcomes, but also the overall wellbeing of the country’s citizens and health workforce.

“For several decades, we have underinvested in IT within the health system. We know that digital systems are a game changer, and people want it, but reducing our efforts now will put an already strained environment under even more pressure,” she says.

“The DHA urges that the government prioritises digital health and it becomes a real contender for system transformation.”

Chair of the Clinical Informatics Leadership Network Becky George says frontline clinicians strive daily to make decisions based on the best information they have.

“Our work as clinical informaticians is foundational in enabling technology to support the workforce. Reducing the funding impacts progress and the outcomes we work for,” she tells eHealthNews.

A briefing document from Donoghue to Minister Reti in January this year reveals the extent of the tech debt the organisation is facing.

Reti requested a deep dive into data and digital at Health NZ and the slide deck presented is similar to what has been shared by Donoghue at other events hosted by HiNZ and DHA.

An inventory shows the public health system has the largest and most complex IT ecosystem in NZ with more than 6000 applications sitting on 1,000 physical servers.

A quarter of all databases are out of support and more than half are on extended support.

There are around 1000 devices that are more than 10 years old and 43 percent of virtual servers are also out of support.

Half of the critical hardware in use is beyond its intended lifecycle, and all of this creates high vulnerability to incidents and outages.

One of the four key take out messages is that Health NZ has inherited significant tech debt which constrains performance.

It says a new national approach is needed, but it will take time, effort and investment to rise above the legacy.

“That said, technology is arguably the biggest lever available for improving care given current system capacity constraints,” says the briefing.

“Smart use of technology can free-up capacity, drive savings and enable clinicians to be more productive and effective.

“We are shaping a digital modernisation roadmap that enables the big system shifts required to achieve national reform. This is not about investing to do ‘more of the same’. A key focus is to implement digital and data platforms that truly enable industry innovation.”

Picture: Minister of Health - Hon Dr Shane Reti