Minister seeks assurance digital cuts will not impact frontline

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

The Minister of Health has asked Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora to assure him that proposed changes to its data and digital team will not impact frontline service delivery.

Simeon Brown tells eHealthNews that the digital and data team provides a core service for Health NZ that "supports frontline workers and ultimately patients".

Health NZ is consulting on plans to cut $100 million annually from digital services and reduce the number of roles by nearly half from 2405 FTE to 1285.

These cuts follow a $380 million budget recall in 2024 and leave only 2.2 percent of Health NZ’s operational spending allocated to digital health, with just 1.4 percent of staff dedicated to this critical area.

Brown says that with approximately 6000 digital applications in use across Health NZ, he has asked the national health organisation to assure him that any changes to this team do not impact frontline service delivery.

“My expectation is that any changes to the data and digital team ensure that the team can continue to support the frontline so they can deliver timely, quality healthcare to all New Zealanders” the Minister says.

Brown recently gave a speech to the BusinessNZ Health Forum where he told media that transitioning to 21st century health systems will take some time and the organisation needs to support existing systems in the interim, as reported by RNZ.

He told the forum that Health NZ’s digital infrastructure is fragmented, with an estimated 6,000 applications and 100 digital networks, equating to roughly one application for every 16 Health NZ staff members, which is "unsustainable".

A recently released HiNZ workforce survey of more than 350 experts in digital health and frontline clinicians found that 97.5 percent believe proposed budget cuts will negatively impact or delay improvements in patient care.

The HiNZ special report reflects deep concerns about the impact of cuts on the health workforce and highlights five key areas for digital investment.

HiNZ chief executive Scott Arrol says it is great to hear Minister Brown has asked Health NZ to look again at its proposal.

"HiNZ welcomes the Minister taking an active interest in the important role of data and digital in the health sector and the opportunities to create efficiencies and improve patient care using technology," he says.

Darren Douglass, Health NZ acting chief information technology officer, says changes to the data and digital teams remain a proposal at this point.

“IT systems will continue to operate, and appropriate transitional arrangements and contingency plans will be put in place as part of any final decisions made,” he says.

eHealthNews previously reported that more than 6000 comments questions and suggestions were received on the digital proposal, which Douglass says are still being considered.

All decision documents will be shared with affected staff first and the plan is for the vast majority of change processes across Health NZ to be completed by mid-2025.

The Public Service Association (PSA) has started litigation in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) focused on the plan to cut digital staff saying the proposal “overlooked or ignored the considerable increase in clinical risk which would follow the introduction of their proposals”.

National secretary  Fleur Fitzsimons says the union attended mediation on March 11 regarding this, but no settlement was reached and it is due to be heard by the Authority in April.

“A major re-think is needed as patient safety is at risk from the loss of people who are experts on the current applications and operating systems,” she says.

The ERA action follows the PSA asking the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the staff cuts, which the union says threaten the security of sensitive patient data.

Fitzsimons says the union has not yet had a substantive response from the Privacy Commissioner regarding this request.

Digital Health Association chief executive Ryl Jensen says the Minister’s focus on improving digital health infrastructure is welcome as it follows a year of deprioritisation.

"We had a window where digital health was getting the attention and funding it needed, and we were making progress. But in the past year, much of that has been undone. Funding was pulled, key projects stalled, and the sector was left in limbo - right when we needed to accelerate change," she says.  

Jensen says reinvesting in digital health will deliver tangible benefits - cost reductions, system efficiencies, and better patient outcomes.  

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