Health NZ staff to get ‘more consistent, secure, and up-to-date technology experience’

NEWS  - eHealthNews editor Rebecca McBeth

A large-scale Clinical Desktop Modernisation Programme at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora involves upgrading around 80,000 computers and devices across 275 sites nationwide and moving staff onto a single national digital platform.

The latest Health Data and Information Platform (HDIP) update on GETS says around 100,000 staff will be upgraded to Windows 11 and Microsoft 365.

Copilot is also being progressively rolled out to staff as they migrate to the national Microsoft 365 environment. This will continue throughout 2026, with access expanding as more staff are onboarded to the national desktop.

Darren Douglass, Health NZ acting chief information technology officer, says the programme will “deliver a more consistent, secure, and up-to-date technology experience regardless of where staff work”.

Around 36,000 older devices are being replaced and 80,000 are being upgraded rather than replaced.

The work is being rolled out in separate phases, with the migration to a single national Microsoft 365 environment before the desktop upgrade.

The move to a single national environment involves changing to a national email address format, transferring existing emails and files, and setting up national cloud-based services such as OneDrive. 

Douglass says these changes give staff a consistent digital identity and access to the same tools and information across the organisation.

“As part of this change, clinicians who use shared workstations will gain access to Tap On/Tap Off technology, allowing them to sign in and out of our national desktop and applications more quickly,” he tells eHealthNews. 

“Staff who work across multiple locations, including from home, will find it easier and safer to access Health NZ systems wherever they are working.”

Douglass describes Copilot as a tool that helps staff work more efficiently by supporting tasks such as drafting and summarising documents and emails, preparing presentations, finding information, and reducing time spent on routine administrative work.

"This enables staff to focus more time on higher-value activities and core responsibilities," he says.
He says licences are being allocated through a staged rollout approach based on technical readiness and organisational priorities. 

“Licences are prioritised by organisational need. Teams and services become eligible as they complete migration, with priority given based on where the operational benefit is greatest,” he explains.

To date, 57 percent of employees have a national email address, and 24 percent have completed the full switch to the national system.

About 2,800 clinical devices have already been upgraded and migrated to Windows 11, and more than 2,400 phones have been brought under national management, says Douglass.

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