New regional digital directors to design regional roadmaps

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

Four new regional digital directors will define and deliver regional digital roadmaps to align digital initiatives with regional business objectives, as part of the restructure at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

The final decision document for the organisation’s data and digital directorate has been released and says the digital services team will be focused on the core business of delivering digital services to support the regions and the workforce.

The foreword from interim chief information technology officer (CITO) Darren Douglass says the objective of the change process has been “balancing support for regional devolution and district delivery of health services with driving efficiency and productivity so that we get back to budget, simplify and standardise our environment and leverage economies of scale as a national function”.

The new structure reduces the total number of positions in Digital Services from 2405 to 1460 and has no more than five reporting layers from the CITO.

Seven directors will be leading teams and reporting to the CITO. These are;  digital health service and design, clinical informatics, cybersecurity, digital delivery, digital operations, digital applications and products, and business services.

Each new regional director digital will have a service excellence manager and regional portfolio manager sitting underneath them. These directors report to the regional deputy chief executives with a dotted line to the CITO.

“This role is responsible for defining and delivering a regional digital roadmap that ensures digital services support the evolving needs of the region,” the document says. 

“It includes enabling the necessary investment to aid the successful delivery of the regional roadmap ensuring alignment between digital initiatives and regional business objectives.” 

The decision document says the team has worked through 6300 pieces of feedback on the original proposal and engaged with stakeholders and staff, which has been integral to changes to the final structure.

These include; strengthened regional support, development of national service portfolios, consolidation of applications and products teams, retention of more operational support and standard change roles, and addition of funded roles to provide dedicated support to strategic project transitions into BAU.

A programme director, reporting to the CITO, will oversee the transition. 

Sonny Taite, acting chief information technology officer, describes the new operating model as having a nationally led Digital Services team, coordinated regionally, with local delivery supporting clinicians and patients at the frontline.  

“The structural changes made to our Digital Services team are designed to ensure our IT functions are set up to support regional devolution, deliver efficiencies and allow us to operate sustainably,” he says.

Taite says the organisation is “looking to a strong digital future for our health services with a 10-year Digital Investment Plan” which is in development.

“This plan will advocate for increased investment in digital as a key enabler for health service delivery and improved outcomes.”

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