Industrial action app wins inaugural Catalyst Award

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

A Waikato team that built an app during strike action to enable nurses and managers to make faster, safer decisions has won the 2025 HiNZ Accenture Catalyst Award.

The Integrated Operations Centre (IOC) team at Health New Zealand Waikato built the industrial action app to allow nurses and managers to see staffing levels in real time.

The inaugural award celebrates individuals and teams who are helping the health workforce get future-ready for digital transformation. 

The Waikato team were announced as the winner at Digital Health Week on November 25 at Te Pae in Christchurch.

The judges said they were particularly impressed with the speed and scale of the initiative, and the measurable impact it had.

Ahmed Ahsan Saeed, production and planning manager at the Waikato IOC, said the team were thrilled to win the Catalyst Award which showed team work at its best.

“This is a great moment for the team and a real boost to keep building simple tools that make a real difference,” he said.

Will Reedy, managing director health at Accenture Aotearoa, sat on the judging panel and said Accenture was proud to support an award that is focused on making a clear digital health impact for people, whānau and communities.

“The range of applications this year shows just how diverse and people-driven digital innovation in New Zealand health has become,” he said. 

“We saw entries from hospital clinicians, allied health teams, pharmacists, community providers, researchers, educators, and emerging start-ups. All are using technology in different ways, but all focused on the same goal: empowering the workforce to deliver better care.”

Accenture’s sponsorship supports the $5,000 prize to sustain or scale the initiative and the winner also gets an opportunity to present their work at a HiNZ event, including a complimentary pass.

Saeed says the funding will help the team build a reusable Rapid Response App Framework and extend it to their on-premise databases so districts across Health NZ can deploy fast, reliable digital solutions when they need them most.

“The investment strengthens our ability to respond rapidly and consistently to future challenges, while giving our frontline teams more time to focus on patient care,” he says.

The other two finalists in the 2025 award were:

• Rincy Varghese from Health New Zealand Counties Manukau, who developed an innovative electronic elective surgical booklet co-designed by clinicians that replaces traditional paper-based forms, streamlines workflows, enhances transparency, accelerates patient care and makes prioritisation fairer
• Whakarongorau NZ Telehealth Services created a national system letting Healthline clinicians instantly book GP telehealth appointments for callers, improving access—especially for rural and underserved communities
  

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