HealthX building a governed AI Foundation Service

NEWS  - eHealthNews editor Rebecca McBeth

Health New Zealand’s HealthX team is developing an AI Foundation Service to enable approved health use cases to use selected AI models safely within a governed environment. 

The work brings together HealthX, HX Digital, Digital Services, and clinical and assurance teams.

Sonny Taite, director of innovation and AI at Te Whatu Ora, told the co:lab 2026 conference on September 2 that HealthX has grown to become a core cross-functional team of around 20 people and a national Clinical Innovation Advisory Group involving clinicians from across the country.

The Foundation Service is in its initial build and validation phase, but Taite said it is intended to provide a safe, controlled way to apply appropriate AI models to genuine health-service problems.

The aim is to enable clinicians and other subject-matter experts across the country to work in small, cross-functional teams to develop solutions to real health-service problems. These teams would bring together clinical, engineering, data, and assurance expertise rather than expecting clinicians to develop or deploy unsupported tools themselves.

He told attendees that the intention is for the service to become a national capability, with AI-assisted software engineering among its first use cases.

HealthX has also developed a structured pipeline for problems and potential solutions submitted from across the sector. An early-stage AI-assisted tool is being developed to scan this material and identify potential connections for review by the team. 

Taite is testing the tool against the HealthX pipeline and said that as it develops, it will look for links among opportunities, existing problems, and emerging evidence.

He said those working in the sector are best placed to identify the challenges that need solving, and that clearly defining the problem is critical when making a submission.

HealthX operates on a clinically led model, meaning every initiative must have a clinical champion.

“For every initiative, we need clinical champions who agree that this is the right thing,” he said, adding that this means ensuring the initiative responds to a genuine problem, addresses a real need, and focuses on delivering meaningful value. 

Clinical leadership is supported by appropriate privacy, security, clinical safety, and workforce impact assessments.

Taite said the team is exploring how selected early research, clinical evaluation, and proof-of-concept activity could be better supported, helping promising ideas build the evidence needed to enter the HealthX delivery pipeline. Options being considered include a future dedicated funding pathway, subject to approval. 

The team has also formalised an international partnership, signing a memorandum of understanding with UCL Partners, a United Kingdom academic health science partnership. 

The relationship gives HealthX access to evidence and practical experience from across the NHS, helping the team test its thinking and identify lessons that could be applied in New Zealand.

Image: Sonny Taite, director of innovation and AI at Te Whatu Ora, speaking at co:lab 2026 

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