New operating model for data and digital to accelerate delivery – Te Whatu Ora

eHealthNews.nz: National Systems & Strategy

New operating model for data and digital to accelerate delivery – Te Whatu Ora

Wednesday, 6 September 2023

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A simplified operating model for Te Whatu Ora data and digital will enable it to make faster decisions, accelerate delivery and become a truly digital organisation, says chief data and digital Leigh Donoghue.

Te Whatu Ora has released its data and digital decision document to staff, outlining eight national business units under which everyone will sit.

These are; strategy and investment; clinical informatics; sector digital channels; integration and delivery; cyber security; data services; business services; and digital enterprise services.

Donoghue says structure is an important step towards becoming a true digital partner to the wider organisation, and they will continue to drive changes and improvements to uplift internal capability.

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“That builds confidence that we can support the wider services on their modernisation and transformation agenda, but also justify the investment that will sit behind that,” he says.

“It is a big shift in terms of how we think and operate and how we work with other services.”

Donoghue says part of ‘being digital’, as distinct from ‘building digital’, is speed.

“We need to simplify our structures to make faster decisions and accelerate our rate of delivery. There is a real shift in mindset to be a delivery organisation: an enabling organisation: a digital organisation.”

Stuart Bloomfield, Te Whatu Ora interim head of integration, says the eight business units will work very closely together as they are inextricably linked.

“We are nationalising in the full sense of the word as it is across the whole country. The focus is on nationally designed, regionally implemented and locally tailored,” he says.

Digital enterprise services, led by James Allison, is the largest unit and will develop a national ICT helpdesk.

Donoghue says bringing together the support functions will mean greater consistency in how data and digital responds to problems or incidents, and enable some functional specialisation, with staff developing deeper skills in certain areas.

“People have been pulled into maintaining existing systems, which really constrained the ability to deliver the new,” he says. “By simplifying the landscape and stabilising operations, we free people up to be reskilled and to build our core around modern technologies and methods.”

Data and digital is focused on simplifying and delivering new projects, programmes and capabilities. These will typically fall under the ‘sector digital channels’ or ‘integration and delivery’ business units.

It will also move towards more standard builds, reining in some of the local customisation and variation to allow greater reuse.

“As we initiate new projects, we are making sure that they are focused in the right areas that reflect the organisation's national priorities,” Donoghue explains.

“This will create a lot of really interesting and meaningful work for our workforce and for the wider health ecosystem.”

Bloomfield says there is a feeling of relief amongst staff that the decision document has been released. It was delayed because of the huge amount of feedback received, which led to many changes and improvements.

The new structure is expected to be in place by 6 November 2023 and a transition plan will introduce the new integrated business operating model over time.

“I think people are feeling much more positive and the next three months are incredibly important as we implement change and enter that new model,” he says.