Health New Zealand implements 60 automated bots

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Health New Zealand has implemented around 60 bots across the country, handling tasks ranging from patient referrals to HR processes and laboratory data transfers.

Parag Bhatnagar, product owner - Intelligent Automation, told Digital Health Week 2025 that the Health NZ team operates in startup mode but has evolved into a national capability. 

A number of bots are now working behind the scenes to automate routine administrative tasks, including two bots now operating in the emergency department (ED) at Middlemore.

He told attendees that the team's experience with ED bed cleaning automation revealed the complexities of implementing digital solutions in healthcare settings. 

The project was to automate bed cleaning requests after patient discharge, which involved nurses logging an electronic bed clean request into SmartPage, now automated.  The aim was to reduce the delay in time to release, increasing the turnover of a bed for the next patient.

However in this case the automation revealed a mismatch between system data and clinical reality as discharge records did not necessarily indicate that beds were ready for cleaning. 

"Just because a patient has been discharged that does not mean that it is available to clean. The bot obviously cannot know if a family's still present, if the isolation requirements have been met, if further room prep needs," Bhatnagar said.

The project also uncovered what Bhatnagar described as "invisible work". These are processes that existed but were not formally documented or owned by any specific department. For example, Emergency Department staff thought orderlies were responsible for certain aspects, while orderlies thought facilities management handled them.

An acute flow operation lead seconded to support the project helped to overcome these challenges by connecting the team with different ED wards and uncovering data quality issues.
What was estimated as a two-week project ultimately took six months to complete as they worked to refine the system.

"We did not want to just automate a process, we wanted to really build a system, and we co-built the system when we went live," Bhatnagar said at the conference in November 2025.

He told attendees it was important to not assume data tells the complete story, to look at infrastructure limitations before implementing automation, and ensure clear process ownership.

The team also learned that clinicians are more likely to trust automated systems that replicate existing processes.

"Clinicians generally will trust a bot if it does what has already been happening, so if you try to reinvent a process and say the tech is now going to drive it, it is probably going to fail," he said.

Hear more from Parag  Bhatnagar in our upcoming webinar – Bots on the frontline, April 22 12.30-1.30pm – register today.

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