Top ten stories – 2024

NEWS - eHealthNews editor Rebecca McBeth

The top ten most-read stories of 2024 reflect a year of significant change at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora as it grapples with funding challenges and organisational restructuring.

The most-read story of the year focused on the loss of the chief data and digital role held by Leigh Donoghue who took up the position in May 2023.

Donoghue moved from Australia to “lead the implementation of digital and technology innovations that improve access to care, enhance our people’s experience of work and supports our strategic aims and key system shifts,” chief executive Margie Apa said at the time.

However, less than 15 months later, Apa said she was disestablishing the chief data and digital role as part of the reset at Health NZ.

The second most-read story detailed the recall of over $330 million in digital health funding as part of Budget 2024. The funds, which were earmarked for foundational and innovative digital projects, were returned as part of cost-saving measures. 

The third-ranked story highlighted the impact of these budget cuts creating an uncertain future for Hira, New Zealand’s flagship health information sharing programme. With no funding allocated for further tranches, the programme finished in June and Health NZ said it was exploring ways to sustain some of its functions using baseline funding.

Ranking fourth, the announcement of data and information to come under a new directorate at Health NZ was an early part of the restructuring effort at the national organisation. This initiative brought together data services, national collections, analytics, and coding under the Planning Funding and Outcomes directorate.

The fifth most-read story revealed how fragmented IT systems contributed to Health NZ’s fiscal challenges, with the organisation reporting an overspend of $130 million per month. In response to these fiscal woes, the Minister of Health appointed a commissioner, Lester Levy.

The sixth-ranked story covered plans to cut nearly half of all data and digital roles at Health NZ, sparking concern from the Public Service Association (PSA). The union warned that the cuts could compromise patient safety, increase frontline staff workloads, and expose the system to security vulnerabilities.

At seventh, Health NZ’s digital workspace programme gained attention for its goal of unifying the online experience for its 90,000 employees, by standardising email addresses, digital identities, and desktop experiences.

The launch of the National Data Platform (NDP) was the eighth most-read story. This platform consolidates datasets previously spread across 28 entities into a single, centralised system, to enhance data accessibility and analytics capabilities.

The ninth story focused on the importance of data and digital staff to frontline care. Clinical leaders underscored how essential these roles are for maintaining critical systems and supporting day-to-day healthcare delivery, warning of potential risks from ongoing workforce reductions.

Finally, the tenth most-read story highlighted the growing role of Generative AI in helping GPs manage workloads. GPs and primary healthcare leaders Karl Cole and Richard Medlicott discussed using a tool called Copilot to listen in and transcribe patient consultations, helping them to focus on their patients, rather than their screens, during appointments.

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