What is your vision for data and digital technologies as an enabler of the future health system?

We are committed to making sure our health system has the staff and systems it needs to make sure patients get the care they deserve, their data is protected, and our systems are resilient now, and into the future.

Every New Zealander deserves good healthcare where and when they need it. Digital technologies can help us achieve that – keeping patient records safe and secure and reliable, ensuring services are joined up, or investment in the most up to date AI tools. That requires platforms clinicians and patients can trust: simple, consistent, interoperable and secure by design.

I want to see more uptake of tools that free up time for clinicians to spend where it really matters – treating patients.

As we have seen over this past year with multiple data breaches, digital safety is patient safety. The Manage My Health breach exposed the private documents of nearly 100,000 New Zealanders, and the MediMap incident showed patient records themselves being altered, with some patients wrongly recorded as deceased. Now, clinical trial company Zentech has been hacked, potentially exposing the data and privacy of more New Zealanders. That is a care risk, not just a data risk.

Patients entrust their data and sensitive information to the many platforms in use currently. When those platforms can be hacked by an intruder, it’s not just an IT problem, it puts patients at risk. We support calls by the Privacy Commissioner for stronger security obligations and real penalties for everyone who holds patients' health records, public agencies and private providers alike.

I also want a system that gives our innovative local developers room to build, creating jobs here and keeping capability onshore.

How would you fund that vision?

By treating digital as clinical infrastructure and funding it as such; not a line item raided when budgets get tight. The $330 million stripped out of data and digital initiatives in Budget 2024, including cybersecurity capability, was exactly the wrong instinct: a false economy that would be wiped out by the cost of a single major breach or a prolonged outage.

Health NZ runs roughly 6,000 separate data and digital systems. Consolidating them properly may save money, and that money should be reinvested in digital where it is needed, rather than as cost savings.

We will also provide increased funding and training to implement new technology in primary care, so family doctors can spend more time with patients.

In what ways do you believe AI should be used to support the health system, and how would you enable that?

Start where the benefit is clearest and the risk is manageable: cutting administrative load, documenting, coding, correspondence, so clinicians spend more time with patients; decision support and triage; imaging and diagnostics; and better use of data to manage waitlists and population health.

Enabling AI in the health system should involve these four things:

- Data quality and interoperability, because AI applied to fragmented data is a hazard.
- A clear assurance and regulatory pathway, so clinicians and patients know how a tool was validated, how it is monitored, and who is accountable when it errs.
- Consideration of Māori data sovereignty and equity
- Clinician involvement in design, and digital staff with the expertise to evaluate what vendors are selling them.

That last one is impossible while that expertise is walking out the door because of job cuts.

Do you believe Digital Services are properly funded and staffed within Health NZ?

No. The data and digital workforce has gone from a baseline of about 2,400 roles to 1,460, close to a 40 percent reduction, at the same time as the organisation is trying to deliver more services for more patients. You cannot do both.

We have seen successive budgets from National fail to give health the funding it needs to manage a growing, ageing population, or hire the staff it needs to keep running effectively.

Do you support the direction of the government's 10-year Health Digital Investment Plan?

I support much of the ambition. Core clinical systems, a national electronic medical record, radiology, cybersecurity foundations andvirtually enabled care are the right problems, and the sector has been asking for that consolidation for years.

My concerns are with delivery rather than direction. First, funding: the initiatives are not funded, and the plan will never realise its promise on business cases alone. Second, it sits alongside a hollowed-out digital workforce, and plans are delivered by people. Third, it is not clear to me that Health New Zealand's present direction gives New Zealand developers the opportunities they need: a small number of very large programmes, procured globally, is a genuine risk to local capability and to the innovation the plan says it wants.

Would you keep the plan in place if elected?

The last thing this sector needs is another restructure and another strategy reset; churn has cost us as much as the cuts have. I would keep the plan and fix what is missing: fund the initiatives, halt and reverse the attrition of digital expertise, enforce across public and private providers the security standards Labour introduced in 2022, properly resource the Privacy Commissioner and back the penalties he has called for, and structure procurement so local developers can compete. A plan is only as good as the money, the people and the accountability behind it.

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New Zealand ranks fifth in the world for health data interoperability. More than 90 percent of our records can be shared across settings, on the strength of standards work our own people have done through HISO. It is an achievement that says, ‘something is going right’.

Then look at Hira: the national shared-records programme that was paused after a budget recall. What survived is a narrower successor, the Shared Digital Health Record, now rolling out to general practices years later and with a fraction of the original ambition. Its launch has already slipped from 2025 into 2026. Four early-adopter practices, read-only data, a mid-2026 target for critical mass. Useful work, done by good people, but a long way from what was promised.

Funding cycles

That is the pattern that our Health sector lives inside. We build something world-class, then treat the money that keeps it alive as optional.

The reason is not mysterious - health runs on a three-year cycle, and digital is the easiest part of it to defer. It does not show up in a waiting list or an emergency department, so when a Budget gets tight it is the first line cut and the last restored. 

Sixty-five percent of our hospitals still run on paper notes. In practice, around 85 per cent of systems still cannot share information properly: the standards exist, the plumbing to use them does not. 

Health New Zealand is carrying something like 6,000 separate data and digital systems. When Waikato lost its clinical systems for eleven hours in July and staff went back to pen and paper, that was not bad luck, it is what deferred maintenance looks like when it finally arrives.

The vision

None of this is a failure of vision. The 10-year Health Digital Investment Plan, launched late last year with the new Centre for Digital Modernisation, gets a lot right. A single record that follows the patient, serious cybersecurity and a national radiology system with priorities written by clinicians rather than consultants. 

The Opportunity Party has said much the same: New Zealand does not need another attempt to build a digital health system from scratch, it needs to connect and complete what already exists.

But a ten-year plan needs two things to survive, and the announcement was short on both. The first is money. The plan arrived, in this sector's own words, with no budget attached. 

A plan without a funding path is a statement of intent, and intent is exactly what gets paused in the next squeeze, as Hira already has been. 

The second is cross-party agreement. A digital build cannot migrate 6,000 systems, or keep the people who understand them, if it resets every time the government changes. We have watched other health reforms swing back and forth until the policy went with the politics. Digital health cannot afford the same treatment.

Doing things differently

Here is what we would do differently. Fund the build as what it is, capital infrastructure, sequenced over years inside the infrastructure envelope rather than fought for each Budget. Fund the standards, the interoperability work and the cybersecurity assurance from Vote Health, inside a staged path that lifts health spending to 9 percent of GDP and holds it there. 

Put the whole thing inside a costed ten-year Health Plan, agreed across Parliament and given a legislative basis, with progress reported to Parliament rather than to the Minister of the day. 

The Pae Ora amendments this year already require a new Government Policy Statement and a New Zealand Health Plan, the digital plan belongs inside that, not beside it as one more document a future government can shelve. 

The sector does not need another re-invention, or another reset, it needs the one thing politics almost never offers it, a funded horizon long enough to finish what it starts. Fund health for ten years, not three, and mean it. The rest is deliverable.

If you want to contact eHealthNews.nz regarding this View, please email the editor Rebecca McBeth.

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Technology is the most powerful lever available to improve health outcomes, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora board chair Mark Darrow says.

"Our destination is not better technology, the destination is better care, but it is technology, digital, and AI that can help us get there," he told the HiNZ Digital Health AI Summit in Ōtautahi Christchurch on September 17.

Darrow is five months into his role as Chair and spoke about the strategic direction the new Board is setting, and the central role digital plays in that.

He described Online GP appointments, same-day video consultations, AI-assisted prescription and referral systems, robotic surgery, and AI image analysis as tools being used to help deliver care.

“Technology is the biggest opportunity, more than anything else, to make a real difference to health outcomes, and will do so more efficiently than any other lever we have to pull,” he said.

Darrow said the past five to six years of ongoing disruption has left the health system with a "profound legacy debt" across infrastructure, skills, and technology.

The organisation runs 20 different payroll systems and five different recruitment systems, and is still working through historic holiday pay issues in two hospital districts, a process that has been going on for a decade.

He said the Board has approved a technology pathway to invest in an integrated digital platform covering finance, workforce and supply chain functions.

A new Digital Transformation Committee has also been established to oversee delivery of the Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP), which would be New Zealand’s largest every technology project.

Darrow described the HDIP as a bold plan, but said it is "largely currently an unfunded ambitious goal that lacks specificity and needs a lot more work."

The plan covers radiology modernisation, cloud transformation, clinical desktop modernisation, cybersecurity, data analytics capability, and digital infrastructure.

He said as part of the Digital Committee's creation the digital team was asked to name their central goal and the answer was “one patient, one record”.

"My next question was, what has to be true to achieve that? I know this is not a new question or a new ambition, this has been going on for decades, but we have to finally face up to that as the truism that we have to create,” he told the Summit.

Darrow said the Board is finalising a new organisational strategy, what they call a North Star, that sets out what Health New Zealand is trying to achieve for patients, the workforce, and the wider health system.

“Digital and AI need to support and enable that direction: they are tools to help deliver better care, better access, and better outcomes for New Zealanders - not the destination in themselves,” he said.

"If there was ever a time we needed leadership, clear thinking, collaboration, and to operate as one system, now is surely that time.”

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Developments in digital health technology have given us new ways of delivering and accessing healthcare services for patients and practitioners alike. 

These changes are happening quickly, and while there is a role that digital health can play in delivering services and strengthening our systems, it is important we ensure that digital health is used to support care, not replace it entirely. 

Community input

As the Green Party health spokesperson, one of my main priorities is ensuring that the changes and decisions we make are made with input from our communities to ensure the needs and wants of our people and providers are being met. 

This also applies to digital health: we need to work with communities to identify where there are opportunities to use digital health, and where investment or continued use of non-digital systems remains better practice. 

Many communities across Aotearoa already experience inequity and inaccessibility in our health system. Not only does this lead to poor health outcomes, but it also erodes public trust and means people do not feel confident they can get the care they need. 

This is especially the case for our rural communities, who often suffer from after hours medical services being scaled back, temporary closures, reduced operating hours, and people being re-directed to telehealth appointments, rather than being seen in person. 

Similar experiences are shared with our Māori, Pasifika, seniors, rainbow communities, and tāngata whaikaha. These communities already face barriers when it comes to accessing healthcare, so we need to make sure that if digital health is introduced, it makes a meaningful difference that genuinely improves the delivery of services and patient experience. 

Funding digital health

Alongside listening to our communities, we also need to ensure digital health is getting the resources and funding needed. 

Over the past three years, the current Government has made damaging cuts to our healthcare sector which has directly impacted digital development, patient trust, data protection and staffing. 

We have seen 1,815 jobs cut from the Data and Digital Teams at Te Whatu Ora. At the same time, we have seen hospitals across the motu experience IT outages, meaning already stretched staff are having to rely on pen and paper while continuing to deliver essential care and waiting for systems to start again. 

This can lead to more stress on staff, delayed surgeries, and puts patients at risk. If we are going to implement digital health, we need to make sure we have the investment and infrastructure required to make this work, as well as processes in place to ensure that if outages do happen, our health system is not put under more pressure. 

We also need to make sure we have the opportunity to hire the right people, with the right skills to make these changes and engage with our communities.

Digital safety

Digital safety is also incredibly important. The Manage My Health data breach earlier this year is another example of what happens if we fail to properly invest in digital health, and the importance of putting patient wellbeing at the centre of decision making. 

The breach led to 120,000 New Zealanders having their medical information compromised. Discharge documents, medical history, prescriptions and private records were accessed by bad actors. This incident damaged public trust, put strain on our system and raised questions around data governance. 
If we are going to use digital health systems, we need to make sure we have the correct care, safeguards, oversight and transparency in place so these systems can work effectively, and that we have public trust.

Like the introduction of any new technology, we need to weigh up where is most appropriate for digital health to be used, the role it can play in our communities, as well as understanding the potential risks and impact it can have. 

If we are going to adopt digital health, we need to make sure it is something that we properly invest, resource and regulate. 

With the input of our people and the proper funding, we can make digital health work for all of us. 

If you want to contact eHealthNews.nz regarding this View, please email the editor Rebecca McBeth.

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Four of New Zealand's largest primary health organisations (PHOs) are calling for a nationally aligned digital health strategy with primary care at its centre, greater investment in AI and digital tools and the rollout of a single, secure health record.

The Network4 Alliance - Pegasus Health, Pinnacle Group, ProCare, and Tū Ora Compass Health – has released an election manifesto which also calls for national interoperability standards across health systems, better use and scaling of proven New Zealand-built platforms and technology investment focused on patient and clinician outcomes.

The group represents more than 350 general practices and more than 1.8 million enrolled New Zealanders and the manifesto outlines five priorities it is asking all political parties to support: ‘Technology in service of people’ is one of them.

“New Zealand’s digital health landscape remains fragmented and duplicated, creating inefficiency for both clinicians and patients,” it says.

“Clinicians are spending too much time on administration and navigating disconnected systems. At the same time, New Zealand has already developed proven digital tools and platforms that could be scaled more effectively.

“Technology should support better care, reduce burden, and free clinicians to spend more time with patients.”

Network4 chair Barry Bragg says the current situation is unsustainable and the proposals are grounded in the day-to-day experience of organisations supporting general practice across urban, rural, Māori, Pacific and high-needs communities.

"These are practical actions that would strengthen primary care and improve the performance of the wider health system."

The manifesto also addresses long-term strategic direction, sustainable funding, workforce development, and care closer to home. 

Technology is a critical enabler across all of these areas, particularly in reducing the administrative load on clinicians, which is causing burn out. It says well-designed digital tools, such as those using AI, could meaningfully reduce this burden and make general practice a more sustainable career pathway.

Also, in providing care closer to home as better information flow and shared care planning between primary, community and hospital services would reduce fragmentation and allow more care to be safely delivered in community settings.

“A better integrated, community-based system will improve patient outcomes while reducing unnecessary pressure on secondary care,” it says.

Bragg says, "we are asking every party to consider the same question: what does a sustainable primary care system look like over the next decade, and what commitments are needed to achieve it?" 

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Pharmac is using one-off funding from Budget 2025 to develop a two-year data and digital programme aimed at enhancing core functions, improving decision-making, and strengthening collaboration and transparency across the health system. 

A Letter of Expectations progress update released on August 13, says a key project is the redevelopment of the Pharmaceutical Schedule - the document that lists all medicines and related products funded by Pharmac in New Zealand.

The project will replace legacy Schedule applications with a modern, centralised database that integrates with other systems both internally and externally. The update describes the redevelopment as the most significant change to the Schedule in 30 years.

The Letter sets out the Government's priorities for Pharmac each year and includes the expectation that Pharmac invest in data and digital infrastructure to enhance core functions and improve decision-making, collaboration, and transparency. 

As part of this work, Pharmac has agreed a joint project plan with Health New Zealand to align delivery of the new Schedule with a new Special Authority IT system that Health New Zealand is delivering. Both systems are scheduled to go live in late October 2027.

The Special Authority system manages the approval process for medicines that require authorisation before a patient can access them through the Pharmaceutical Schedule. The update says that aligning the two projects will ensure the systems work together effectively from the outset.

Pharmac is also progressing other digital initiatives under the programme including a new contract management system, and patient and supplier portals. The agency says it is working on improved application development tools to support better workflow, and is exploring opportunities for the use of artificial intelligence across its operations.

In September 2025, the Government announced changes to how hospital medical devices are procured, with Health New Zealand and Pharmac sharing responsibility under a joint operating model.
From February this year, Pharmac began delivering medical device health technology assessments as part of Health New Zealand's new Health Technology Evaluation Pathway.

The update says Pharmac's investment in digital infrastructure supports its work on medical devices and the agency’s focus for 2026/27 is continued delivery of the data and digital programme in partnership with Health New Zealand and other sector stakeholders. 

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An independent review has found nearly one million notifications were not sent or even triggered for people eligible for cervical cancer screening, and the screening Register was launched "with limited functionality and several known issues".

The review into the National Cervical Screening Programme (NCSP) Register was commissioned by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora and a formal action plan is now in place to address the issues.

The Register was launched in September 2023 and designed to centrally manage invitations, recalls, reminders, and clinical follow-up for all eligible people aged 25 to 69 with a cervix. 

One of several known issues at launch was "incomplete data migration from the previous register" and interviewees described it as a ‘working prototype’ with known issues and missing functionality, the report says.

Many initial requirements did not make it into the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) including; a link to the National Immunisation Register to check HPV vaccination status; interface with hospital IT systems; compatibility with SNOMED CT23 clinical coding; and email and text message notifications initiated by the Register.

The new report says there was a lack of adequate user acceptance testing prior to launch, and inadequate post go-live monitoring.

High staff turnover on the project had led to loss of institutional knowledge, and it was understaffed after implementation was completed and “funding ran out”.

“Several interviewees commented they had hoped the rollout of the Register would benefit from lessons learned during the implementation of the NBSP’s Breast Screening Register,” it says. 

The BSR is built on the same Salesforce software as the cervical screening register, but the report says they use different Salesforce environments and add-ons. Also the NCSP’s clinical pathways are much more complex, and therefore more difficult to build into a technology platform. 

The review, conducted between November 2024 and June 2025, found that around 160,000 notifications were triggered but not sent, including around 108,000 eligibility notifications not sent to people classified as "inactive" in the National Health Index (NHI), and 51,000 recall and reminder notifications withheld due to a phased rollout approach known as "cohorting." 

More than 680,000 notifications were never triggered at all, including around 650,000 eligibility notifications, of which approximately 495,000 were not triggered because the individual was deemed inactive, as they had not accessed health services for three years.

Another 100,000 reminder notifications were not triggered due to what the review describes as "case closure issues."

The issues identified include that the Register cannot look back at a person’s previous screening history, meaning it cannot automatically flag individuals as unscreened or under-screened. It also lacks the ability to send notifications by email or text message and is not yet integrated with primary care practice management systems.

“Interviewees said that one of the most significant functions not delivered was the ability of the Register to flag someone as being ‘unscreened’ or ‘under-screened’, thought to be essential to implementing the Notification Strategy,” the report says.

“The review panel was told that the NCSP’s clinical team did not have direct involvement in some of the Register’s functionality during development. It was said the implementation had lacked a ‘translator’ who could act as a go-between for the clinical and ‘technology’ teams within Health NZ and with the ICT vendor.”

The review found there was no single, unified process for identifying and documenting risks across the NCSP's clinical, operational, and digital teams, and concluded that clinical risk was not always fully understood by senior decision-makers or the IT vendor.

Health New Zealand has published an action plan in response to the review's 48 recommendations, organising implementation across three workstreams: System Integrity, Data and Integration; Service Delivery and Operating Model; and Clinical, Quality and Monitoring. Implementation is planned over two years.

For the system integrity, data and integration workstream the focus will be on “strengthening the reliability, functionality, and long-term sustainability of the Register and supporting systems, including data quality, system integration, and clinical rules,” the plan says.

The action plan also commits to phasing out cohorting, developing email and text message notification capability, and undertaking a critical assessment of the Register's long-term viability.

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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 Digital Investment Plan (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.”

The Tap On/ Tap Off technology is being provided by Imprivata.

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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It's great to see momentum build across the Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP), with $300 million from Budget 2026 enabling us to tackle some of the digital challenges that have held the health system back for years. We're now in a position to make real progress.

Much of the technology our health system currently uses is fragmented and outdated, making it harder to share information, respond to growing demand and introduce new services. The HDIP will move Health NZ to modern, secure and reliable national platforms where: 

• clinicians can access the information they need more easily (with less time spent navigating fragmented systems, logging into multiple applications and managing manual workarounds) 
  
• patients experience more connected care (without needing to repeat their medical history and personal information, as health records follow them across different services). 
  

Modernisation programmes 

We're moving forward with several priority programmes, subject to business case approvals, including: 

• Radiology Modernisation: Modern radiology systems – improving how radiology images and information are shared across the health system – will enable the delivery of critical clinical services nationwide, while streamlined workflows will give clinicians faster access to imaging information to support safer, more informed decisions. 
  
• Clinical Desktop: Moving our workforce onto a single, modern Health NZ desktop. This involves: 
  
  • introducing new access tools that make it easier for staff to securely access the critical systems and information they need, wherever they're working 
    
  • expanding tap on/tap off access so staff can quickly pick up where they left off as they move between workstations, reducing interruptions and saving valuable time in clinical environments 
    
  • replacing or upgrading nearly 80,000 ageing devices, while upgrading around 100,000 staff to Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 across 275 sites. 

These measures will also create foundations for further modernisation work. 

• National Corporate Platform: Replacing fragmented, ageing core corporate services (workforce, finance, procurement and supply chain systems) with a single modern platform. This will give Health NZ better visibility and control of its resources to support decision-making, reduce duplication and administrative burden, and free up more time and funding to support the delivery of frontline health services.  
  
• Core Clinical Modernisation: The strategic case, currently being developed and due for consideration later this year, explores how clinical teams can move away from fragmented systems and paper-based information towards a more connected, trusted and intuitive digital experience. The aim is to ensure information is available when and where it’s needed, support better co-ordination of care, and create a foundation for future innovation and new models of care. 
  

While we build for the future, we also need today's systems to remain safe, secure and reliable.  
Stabilisation work is being carried out to update aging systems and servers to improve resilience, keep patient data more secure, and ensure clinical services run safely and reliably while the modernisation programmes are being progressed. 

Other key programmes delivering improvements include:  

• Centric roll out: Digital clinical workflow tools that replace paper notes and observation charts with electronic documentation and real-time patient information. Centric is now live across most of Gisborne Hospital, and in some wards across Waikato Hospital, where clinicians have completed more than 120,000 digital notes. 
  
• Hospital medicines management: Consolidating eight hospital pharmacy systems into four regional platforms, each becoming the foundation for regional electronic prescribing and administration. ePharmacy handles around 6.4 million medication transactions a year, across roughly 80 percent of hospital admissions. Te Manawa Taki completed its regional upgrade in May 2026 with Central, Northern and Te Waipounamu progressing. MedChart went live at Te Nīkau Hospital on the West Coast recently, replacing paper medication charts across all inpatient wards. 
  
• Cortex roll out: A clinical care co-ordination platform that replaces paper documentation with electronic workflows available at the bedside. South Canterbury has completed testing and is rolling out Cortex across its inpatient wards and emergency department. 
  
• Shared Digital Health Record: This new data service will enable healthcare providers to access, and later update, a person's core health information across care settings nationally through existing shared electronic health records and other shared patient record systems. It will collect and share health information held by general practice, urgent care and telehealth services. It will also collect information from national Health NZ databases. Individuals will be able to opt off if they choose not to have some or all their information shared and there will be rigorous privacy and security controls. 
  
• Radiology Stabilisation: Strengthening the digital infrastructure and core systems that underpin our radiology services, so they’re more reliable and can operate safely nationwide while the Radiology Modernisation programme is set up and partners/solutions procured. The Central region radiology information system upgrade was completed recently across six districts, with further stabilisation work delivered in Waitaha and the Northern region. 
  
• Cloud Modernisation: Moving the organisation to more secure and reliable cloud platforms. The business case is currently going through the approval process. 
  
• Network connectivity: Establishing a secure and resilient national network across Health NZ sites to replace multiple regional networks. A business case is currently being developed. 
  

Working together

No single team can achieve all this alone. Delivery of the HDIP brings together expertise from across Health NZ including the Centre for Digital Modernisation of Health, Digital Services and clinical leaders, along with the Government Digital Delivery Agency, suppliers and delivery partners. Together, we're building the foundations for modern, connected and resilient digital systems, ensuring investment is focused on delivering the greatest benefits for patients, clinicians and communities.

While there is significant work ahead, we're making real progress and putting the right building blocks in place for the future. 

In brief

• Gary Baird will be joining Health NZ next month in the newly created role of National Director Digital Services and Technology.  His job title reflects Digital Services' increasingly national way of working - bringing together local expertise and national leadership to deliver consistent, connected digital services across the country. This replaces the Chief Information Technology Officer role I’ve held in an acting capacity since October 2024. I’ll be returning to my substantive role once Gary’s onboard.  
  
• The Health NZ Board has established a Digital Transformation Committee to oversee progress on the HDIP. This strengthens oversight of our major digital initiatives and connection to the Health NZ Board. 

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Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora will share its Electronic Health Record (EHR) strategy with the market ahead of a 2027 business case, as part of a $300 million digital investment programme under its Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP). 

The organisation has also recently selected an Oracle cloud platform to modernise its core business processes covering workforce, finance, procurement, and supply chain.

Health New Zealand has published an updated Notice of Future Procurement Opportunities, outlining a range of digital procurement activity under the plan.

The update says the organisation will “socialise our thinking” around the EHR programme, including strategy and possible commercial approaches, before the programme business case is completed in early 2027 and a formal Future Procurement Opportunity notice will be issued.

Work has already started on assessing options for a unified system for collecting and managing health information, so that “people's health records follow them across all care settings”, it says.

The $300 million in funding was confirmed in Budget 2026, with programmes now moving through business case development and procurement activity expected to accelerate over the coming months.

These include clinical desktop infrastructure, radiology services, corporate systems and cloud platforms.
Another $153 million in funding has been announced to expand national cybersecurity monitoring, strengthen data security processes, and deliver critical IT safety upgrades across the health system.

The HDIP is structured across six sub-portfolios: Digitally Enabled Models of Care, Clinical and Operational Experience, People and Whānau Experience, Corporate Experience, Technology, and Data and Interoperability.

The Corporate Experience programme is described as replacing fragmented, ageing systems with a single modern platform to give Health NZ better visibility and control of its resources. 

Oracle has been awarded this contract and a procurement for a Corporate Experience Advisory Partner is expected to be released soon.

Radiology has two separate procurement streams: the Radiology Stabilisation programme focuses on strengthening existing digital infrastructure while the broader Radiology Modernisation programme is established. A procurement notice for Radiology Modernisation solutions is expected in the coming months.

The Cloud Modernisation programme of work has already released RFPs to establish two panels - Cloud Implementers and Platform Providers. These have now closed and are being assessed.

Health NZ is also planning to establish a Professional Services Panel later in 2026. The Centre for Digital Modernisation of Health, which oversees HDIP delivery, will use the panel to procure professional services and Centre Capability Partners. 

The update says the Centre works closely with the Government Digital Delivery Agency GDDA, which holds a system leadership role for All-of-Government digital procurement and where possible HDIP investments should contribute to the broader digital government ecosystem.

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Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has today announced that the Government will begin publicly reporting how quickly young people are accessing mental health support as part of its quarterly mental health target results from the next release.

"I have listened to calls for greater transparency around youth mental health. That’s why from the next release, our quarterly mental health target reporting will include a breakdown showing how quickly young people are accessing support against the three access targets," Mr Doocey says. 

"When I introduced these targets, I was clear that their purpose was to improve transparency and accountability. There is nothing that holds me more accountable than publicly reporting how we are tracking for everyone to see. 

"It is only common sense that, alongside regional and ethnicity breakdowns, we also report how fast young people are accessing support. 

"We know mental health is one of the biggest challenges facing young New Zealanders today, and I am determined to pull every lever available to ensure they can get the support they need. 

"A recent survey showed only 3.7 per cent of young people who needed support said they couldn't get an appointment. However, it also highlighted other barriers we must continue to break down, with 29.4 per cent saying they did not know where to get help, and more than 35 per cent saying they were too embarrassed to seek support.

"That tells us our work must go beyond increasing access. We also need to make sure young people know where to go for help and feel confident asking for it.

"That is why hosting New Zealand's first Youth Mental Health Summit at Parliament was so important, and why I am committed to working alongside Youthline to implement the youth-led roadmap presented at the summit.

"The Government is continuing to deliver support for young people across the continuum of care through initiatives including Gumboot Friday counselling sessions, increased funding for specialist youth mental health services, and mental health promotion to encourage young people to seek support early. 

“While there is more work to do, by publishing the youth breakdown, I expect to see continued improvement in ensuring young people get faster access to the support they need.

“I want to especially thank the Mental Health Foundation for their advocacy in ensuring the youth data is publicly released.”

Source: Hon Matt Doocey | Minister for Mental Health media release

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A rapid review of digital delivery across government singles out Health New Zealand as facing “major hurdles in delivering tech and service innovation – despite the huge productivity opportunity in health spending”.

The Delivering Digital Government – Reset Plan, says Treasury's assessment suggests a 5 percent saving in the health sector's labour costs through digital productivity improvements could deliver savings of around $600 million per year.

Commissioned by public service commissioner Brian Roche, the rapid review finds that the overall government digital system is not working as effectively as it should with funding and approval processes better suited to large capital projects than modern, fast-moving technology investments.

Health New Zealand is a case study in the report, which says the organisation faces difficulties tracking accurate workforce data, including the ability to report true full-time equivalent numbers or junior doctor figures, and cannot provide simple answers to basic data questions from Health, Treasury, or the Government Digital Delivery Agency (GDDA).

It says that innovative commercial models for technology and system innovation at Health NZ become "mired in cumbersome oversight and procurement processes," and that the GDDA "lacks the commercial and market experience or relationships to quickly assess non-standard proposals."

As an example, the report says that it is easier to get approval for $12 billion in annual labour costs than for a $20 million digital project, which must follow a gateway process with Ministerial and Cabinet sign-off.

Innovation trials, such as the use of AI-powered scribing in emergency departments, are described as happening "in spite of institutional settings, not because of them”.

The overall report says that government digital systems suffer from fragmented investment, poor coordination, and a central digital function (the GDDA) that has limited influence over key decisions on funding, design, and procurement. 

Despite costing $42 million per year to operate with 170 full-time equivalent staff, the GDDA has struggled to demonstrate clear value across the system.

Engagement with technology providers is inconsistent and does not support long-term partnerships or co-investment and stronger system leadership and a more coordinated approach are needed to lift performance and deliver better outcomes, it says.

The review suggests; resetting prioritisation so that scarce resources flow to the highest-impact projects; repositioning the GDDA as a central strategist, technical authority, and commercial broker; and reforming the wider system to remove structural barriers that constrain delivery performance.

“Done well, technology investment can materially change how government operates, what it costs, and what it delivers to citizens,” it says.

The review also describes AI as foundational capability that can transform the work of government, but says “NZ has lacked ambition or a coherent strategy for govt AI and is quickly falling behind peers.”

It was the last OECD country to publish a national AI strategy and this focuses on adoption and commercialisation, with no specific timelines, milestones, or measurable outcomes for government AI. 

Roche will consider the findings before making decisions on a way forward. 

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A two-year transition period is planned before the new Medical Products Bill takes effect, which will regulate software as a medical device - including artificial intelligence used for therapeutic purposes.

Tim Vines, manager, therapeutics, strategy, policy and legislation, Ministry of Health, told the MTANZ Conference on June 30 that all essential policy decisions have now been made and that drafting instructions are to be issued this year, but the bill will not be introduced to Parliament before the November election.

The Ministry's indicative timeline is to introduce the bill to Parliament in early 2027. It would then go to the Health Committee for a public consultation process of around six months and could be passed by Parliament by the end of 2027.

A two-year transition period is planned before the law comes into force to allow secondary legislation to be developed, for Medsafe to prepare operationally, and for any necessary IT systems to be put in place. 

Vines said that the bill will regulate software that has a therapeutic purpose, including uses of AI.

Things like patient management software, e-prescribing systems, and AI note-taking scribes are not intended to be regulated as medical devices. 

However, if software moves beyond note-taking into suggesting diagnosis or treatment options, it would be considered to have a therapeutic purpose and would likely be captured under the new regulatory framework.

Vines told the audience that AI is an emerging field and that ongoing discussions with the sector will be needed to determine how New Zealand balances support for innovation against patient safety considerations. 

He said the new bill also extends the regulation of clinical trials to medical devices, a change from the current framework under the Medicines Act, and that this will need to reflect the differences between medicine trials and the typical product development cycles for medical devices.

Image: Tim Vines, manager, therapeutics, strategy, policy and legislation, Ministry of Health speaking at MTANZ Conference 2026

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A new Health Technology Evaluation Pathway and Health Technology Investment Plan aim to bring consistency and transparency to how new medical technologies are assessed and funded in New Zealand’s health system, the health minister says. 

Speaking at the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand (MTANZ) HealthTech Week 2026 conference, Simeon Brown said Health New Zealand manages around 350,000 pieces of clinical equipment nationally, with an estimated replacement value of approximately $3 billion.

Around a quarter of this clinical equipment is already beyond its recommended lifespan and much of it is unconnected.

He said the new evaluation pathway and investment plan are designed to work together to address gaps in how the country evaluates and adopts new health technologies.

"Health technologies continue to emerge with frequent requests for new technologies to be publicly funded," Brown said. 

"At the same time, obsolete technologies and outdated clinical practices can persist, while uneven access across the country means some communities miss out entirely."

Jason Power, acting director of Planning Funding and Outcomes at Health NZ said the 10-year investment plan focuses on clinical equipment and devices and is being developed alongside Pharmac.

He said the pace of decision-making is not keeping up with how quickly the technology environment moves and a central goal of the plan is scaling proven technologies more quickly across the system. 

"We pilot, we trial, but how do we get scalability urgent and quickly?" Power asked.

Remote monitoring and telehealth also feature prominently in the plan, particularly for rural and hard-to-reach communities.

Power said Health New Zealand is encouraging industry to engage early in the process as the organisation wants to partner around emerging technologies.

Working groups are being established between Health New Zealand and Pharmac, with industry representatives expected to play a key role in shaping the new technology evaluation and funding framework.

Brown said the new Medical Products Bill, replacing the Medicines Act, will allow most devices to rely on approvals from overseas regulators to be approved in New Zealand.

The bill will also apply to some health software defined as ‘software as a medical device’, in a way that “supports rather than stifles innovation”, he said.

Image: Health Minister Simeon Brown

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Health NZ has extended the timeline for rolling out the Shared Digital Health Record, citing the need to do security and due diligence checks before patient data can be shared.

This follows three major data breaches affecting New Zealand health providers in the space of three months.

Immunisation and medication data, originally expected to be available through the Shared Digital Health Record earlier in 2026, is now expected to be shared later in the year. 

Primary care data has also been pushed back with clinician access now expected from mid-2027, rather than mid-2026.

An update from Health New Zealand links the delay to requirements under the Government Digital Delivery Agency's (GDDA) Information Sharing Standard, which it must comply with before sharing personal information with third parties, including primary care practices and clinics.

Health NZ says that four steps must be completed before data sharing can start; an information sharing and security awareness initiative, due diligence checks, signing of the Health NZ Information Access and Use Agreement, and patient notification about the new data service.

The New Zealand health sector has recently suffered what one expert described as a “feeding frenzy” pattern of cyberattacks. Three breaches; at ManageMyHealth, MediMap, and Auckland-based private healthcare provider IntraCare, occurred within three months of each other in late 2025 and early 2026.

The ManageMyHealth breach was detected on 30 December 2025, MediMap was compromised in February 2026, and IntraCare detected unusual activity within its IT environment on 20 March 2026.

In response, Health NZ is rolling out an information sharing and security awareness initiative running from the end of June to August 2026. The initiative is aimed initially at Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) and their primary care practices, as well as providers of telehealth, urgent care, and after-hours services.

Support available includes webinars, a security checklist, quick reference guides, learning modules, a central online hub, regional workshops with PHOs, and targeted support for practices as requested. 

A Security Checklist for health service providers, developed in collaboration with General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ), is based on the National Cyber Security Centre's Minimum Cyber Security Standards and aligned to the Cyber Security Capability Maturity Model (CS-CMM). Organisations wanting to share information with Health NZ must meet at least CS-CMM Level 2, described as the "Baseline" rating.

The checklist covers ten standards, including risk management, security awareness, asset management, secure configuration, patching, multi-factor authentication, detection of unusual behaviour, least privilege access, data recovery, and response planning.

Once due diligence is complete, Health NZ will sign an Information Access and Use Agreement with health service providers, and a separate agreement with IT vendors.

Health NZ describes the initiative as a collaboration rather than a compliance exercise where the organisation is looking to “partner with providers to build confidence, capability, and consistency across the system”.

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Health NZ is rolling out an information sharing and security awareness initiative to help strengthen how health information is shared digitally, in a way that works for the sector. Information sharing happens every day and is essential for safe patient care.

This approach builds on our shared commitment to protecting patient information, while also responding to learnings from recent cyber security events.

We will initially work with PHOs and their primary care practices/clinics, as well as with providers of telehealth services, urgent care and afterhours care.

Support includes an online hub, checklist and webinars

The information sharing and security awareness initiative, which will run from the end of June to August 2026, will include:

• webinars and awareness activities
  • register for webinar on 30 June 6:00pm
  • register for webinar on 1 July 12pm
• a security checklist (attached)
• quick reference guides and learning modules
• a central online hub with guidance (available early July), e-learning and resources
• regional workshops with PHOs
• targeted support for PHOs and practices as requested
• ongoing awareness activities over time.

Responsibilities when sharing health information

As part of the Government Digital Delivery Agency (GDDA) Information Sharing Standard, Health NZ has responsibilities when sharing personal information with third parties, including primary care practices and clinics.

We must now undertake due diligence – working alongside practices and clinics to make sure strong safeguards are in place to protect personal information. We will work with our sector partners to make these expectations practical, achievable, and supportive of day-to-day care delivery.

We see this as a collaboration, where we partner with providers to build confidence, capability, and consistency across the system. This includes supporting alignment with the Health Information Privacy Code and Privacy Act 2020, as well as working progressively towards the National Cyber Security Centre’s Minimum Cyber Security Standards and the Health Information Security Framework (HISF).

Health NZ Information Access and Use Agreement

Once due diligence is complete, Health NZ will sign an Information Access and Use Agreement with health service providers, and a separate Information Access and Use Agreement with IT vendors. Signing means an organisation acknowledges and understands its role and the role of Health NZ in keeping data safe.

The Information Access and Use Agreement is a new, single, main agreement between Health NZ and healthcare service providers.

It sets out:

• how information can be shared
• the responsibilities of Health NZ, health providers and IT vendors.
  

Individual schedules set out specifics for data sharing for a service, such as the Shared Digital Health Record.

Next steps

We will work through PHOs to connect with general practices about the information sharing and security awareness initiative and will be in touch with more information shortly. In the meantime, if you would like more information please contact customerservice@health.govt.nz.

We look forward to working with our sector partners as this initiative rolls out and continuing to strengthen trusted information sharing across the sector.

Extended timeline for the Shared Digital Health Record

The Shared Digital Health Record is the first Health NZ data service needing to respond to the requirements of the GDDA’s new Information Sharing Standard. This means additional checks, working with primary care practices/clinics, must be undertaken before information can be shared.

The following must be completed before data sharing:

• information sharing and security awareness initiative
  
• due diligence checks
  
• signing of the Health NZ information access and use agreement 
  
• patient notification about the new data service.
  

The above also support alignment with the Health Information Privacy Code and Privacy Act 2020, the National Cyber Security Centre’s Minimum Cyber Security Standards and the Health Information Security Framework (HISF).

The information sharing and security awareness initiative being rolled out by Health NZ will support primary care practices/clinics to respond to the new requirements.

Updated rollout timeline

To ensure requirements are met before data is shared, the timeline for rolling out the new data service has been extended.

• Immunisation and medication data is now expected to be shared through the Shared Digital Health Record later in 2026.
  
• Primary care data is expected to be available to clinicians from mid 2027.
  

If you would like further information about the Shared Digital Health Record, please email SharedDigitalHealthRecord@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz.

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Health New Zealand is progressing work towards New Zealand’s first registry for female pelvic floor procedures, including mesh.

“Late last year, we signed an agreement with Melbourne’s Monash University to implement the Australasian Pelvic Floor Procedure Register (APFPR) here in New Zealand,” says Dr Richard Sullivan, Health New Zealand Executive National Director Clinical.

“Since then, we’ve partnered with the Centre for Health Outcome Measures New Zealand (CHOMNZ), a charitable trust that is experienced managing health registries, to support a safe, seamless rollout of the registry across New Zealand.

“We’re now working to ensure the Australasian register is adapted for the New Zealand context and once that is complete, we will undertake a pilot study to trial the registry processes, which we hope to start in late 2026,” he says.

This is a significant step towards meeting the final safeguard needing to be satisfied, before the Surgical Mesh Round Table (SMRT) can consider if the conditions of the time-limited pause in the use of surgical mesh to treat stress urinary incontinence that was implemented in August 2023 have been met.

The conditions and pause were recommended by the SMRT, an oversight and monitoring group chaired by the Ministry of Health, to minimise harm linked to the procedure and is the result of a long-standing restorative justice process.

Other key conditions included mandatory credentialling of surgeons, a structured informed consent process that was co-designed with consumers and patient case discussion at regional stress urinary incontinence multi-disciplinary meetings. There was also a requirement for clinical staff education to ensure high-quality care. All safeguards have been fulfilled, apart from the national registry.

“This work highlights our absolute commitment to provide better and safer women’s pelvic and urinary health and is part of a robust response to issues of the past,” Dr Sullivan says. 

Source: Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora media release

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Health New Zealand has today welcomed the launch of the Rheumatic Fever Care Coordination System (RFCCS), a new national register that will improve coordination of care for people living with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. 

The RFCCS brings together 18 existing local registers into a single, national system – providing clinicians with better access to patient information and supporting more consistent and timely care across the country. 

Deborah Woodley, Director Starting Well at Health New Zealand says the new system is a significant step forward in improving how care is delivered and monitored. 

“By consolidating multiple registers into one national platform, clinicians can more easily access the information they need to support patients, wherever they are in the country. This ensures continuity of care is maintained, reducing the risk of patients being lost to follow-up. 

“This will strengthen patient recall, improve visibility of clinical data, and support more proactive, coordinated care,” Ms Woodley says. 

Each year, between 150 and 200 people are diagnosed with rheumatic fever, and around 2,000 people receive ongoing treatment to prevent recurrence and rheumatic heart disease. Ensuring these patients receive regular preventive treatment is critical to reducing long-term complications. 

“The RFCCS supports a more connected health system, enabling services to better track and follow up patients who require ongoing care. 

“It also represents an important investment in digital health infrastructure, demonstrating how modern, integrated systems can directly support improved health outcomes. 

“I also want to acknowledge all those who have been involved in this project – rheumatic fever advocates, patients, clinicians, academics, Health New Zealand staff, and Māori and Pacific health providers and communities. Your work in getting this new system off the ground will play a vital role in supporting better outcomes for rheumatic fever patients in New Zealand.” 

Rheumatic fever disproportionately affects Māori and Pacific children and young people and improving equity of access to care remains a key priority. 

“Having a national system helps ensure patient and whānau needs are more consistently understood and communicated across services, supporting more equitable delivery of care.” 

The RFCCS is a key initiative under the Rheumatic Fever Roadmap 2023–2028 and will play an important role in strengthening prevention, monitoring, and long-term management of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease across New Zealand. 

Source: Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora media release

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SECTOR UPDATE - Bupa 

Bupa New Zealand has announced the full rollout of its AI-supported care platform Nexus AI, designed to help frontline teams deliver safer, more responsive and consistent care and services to its residents.

The technology has been introduced to support frontline decision-making, by giving Bupa’s carers and nurses faster access to information, policies and organisational knowledge in the moments it matters most.

By reducing time spent searching across multiple systems, the platform is helping teams spend more time focused on people and less time on administration.

Already, the AI-supported platform is helping employees:

• Access policies, procedures and guidance instantly
• Respond more quickly and consistently to resident needs
  
• Reduce administrative workload and duplication
  
• Spend more time focused on care, support and customer interaction
  

Bupa New Zealand Clinical and Quality Director Sandy Turnwald said that platform was designed to make every day work simpler and support better outcomes for residents.

“At Bupa we have extensive guidance and procedures covering all aspects of care, from wound dressing to requirements for resident van trips. Previously, employees needed to know where information was stored across multiple platforms. With Nexus AI, our people can simply ask a question and quickly access the relevant current information and reference documents,” she says.

“It removes barriers for our people and helps frontline teams make more informed decisions, while always maintaining human oversight and professional judgement.”

Importantly, the technology is designed to support clinical, operational and care teams, not automate care itself. Decisions remain firmly in the hands of trained employees and care professionals.

"Healthcare is human. It requires compassion, connection and professional judgement. Technology should support our people to work smarter and reduce administrative burden, so they can focus on what matters most, our residents,” says Sandy,

"AI helps reduce friction by surfacing important information faster. Ultimately, it’s about enabling safer, more connected and responsive care and service delivery," she says.

Since becoming fully operational, the platform has also improved collaboration across teams, reduced time spent resolving queries and made organisational knowledge easier to access and apply consistently.

As with any AI tool, Bupa will continue refining the platform alongside frontline employees to ensure it remains safe, practical and focused on delivering meaningful improvements in care and customer outcomes.

The rollout follows Bupa’s recent implementation of its digital Deterioration Early Warning System (DEWS) across all its care homes, a clinical decision-support system that helps care teams identify early and subtle signs that a resident’s health may be declining. 

“Like many aged residential care providers across New Zealand, the sector is facing significant challenges, including funding pressures, significant demand, and increasing complexity of care needs,” says Sandy.

“In this environment, digital solutions that simplify processes, support our people, and help teams spend more time focused on resident care are more important than ever,” added Sandy.”

Source: Bupa media release

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Budget 2026 commits more than $450 million to digital health, including $153.6 million in funding for cybersecurity over the next four years and $300 million to deliver the first three years of the Health Digital Investment Plan.

The $300 million in funding for the Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP) will support work such as replacing ageing devices, modernising radiology systems, and upgrading core IT platforms.

The 10-year plan was announced by Health Minister Simeon Brown at Digital Health Week 2025 along with the creation of a new Centre for Digital Modernisation of Health to deliver it.

Budget documents say $100 million in funding for each of the next three years has been reprioritised from capital to operating funding for the HDIP.

Funding for cybersecurity is set aside at $34.2m in 2026/2027 then $39.8m annually for each of the following three years, “to address Health NZ’s cyber security risk profile by maintaining current protections and providing resources and specialist skills to address threats and vulnerabilities”.

The cybersecurity funding includes support for primary care and comes following a series of high profile patient data breaches over the past six months, including at digital medication management platform MediMap and at Manage My Health (MMH).

The Privacy Commissioner this week said both the patient portal provider and Health NZ have breached the Privacy Act in the case of the MMH breach.

Health Minister Simeon Brown says the government is, “taking decisive action to strengthen cyber security, safeguard patient data, and ensure frontline services can continue operating without disruption.”

The extra $153.6 million investment includes; strengthening 24/7 cyber security monitoring and response capability; expanding specialist cyber security expertise; delivering critical security upgrades across health systems; and strengthening cyber security oversight in primary care.

“This is about protecting patients and maintaining trust in our health system. New Zealanders should feel confident their health information is secure and that frontline services are resilient against cyber threats that could otherwise disrupt care,” he says.

HiNZ chief executive Alex Kemp says it is encouraging to see the government making a substantial commitment to digital health, which reflects the shift towards digital being a core enabler of care.

“The focus on both digital infrastructure and cybersecurity shows an understanding that these areas are fundamental to a modern, resilient health system,” she says.

"The key now will be the delivery to ensure this investment has real impact for those on the frontline. We have seen too many well-intentioned initiatives fall short because the implementation did not translate into practical, meaningful improvements for healthcare workers and patients.”

Chief executive of the Digital Health Association Stella Ward says the $300 million funding for HDIP is the kind of sustained commitment a 10-year programme requires. 

“A modern, connected health system can't be built on one-year allocations – and today's Budget acknowledges that. Replacing aging devices, modernising systems, and upgrading core IT platforms all support the health workforce in their daily mahi supporting patients,” she says.

Chair of General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ), Bryan Betty says the cyber security announcement aligns strongly with GPNZ’s recently released digital security position paper.

“Digital safety is patient safety. With the commitment announced today we expect to see system-wide improvements, strengthening our ability to keep sensitive patient information safe and secure,” he says.

Brown says Budget 2026 provides more than $5.8 billion in new Vote Health operating funding across the forecast period, including a $1.37 billion annual uplift to help meet frontline cost pressures and support growing demand across the health system. 

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Technology is ‘front and centre’ for Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora and the new board has made the first of its decisions around investing in core systems, says recently appointed board chair Mark Darrow.

The  board has established a Digital Transformation Committee to oversee the Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP) and has approved a technology pathway to invest in an integrated digital platform to support finance, workforce, and supply chain functions.

Darrow tells eHealthNews that there is legacy technology debt across the organisation and the report from the last board meeting shows “technology is front and centre”.

He says the new Digital Transformation Committee will include Board and external members to overview the “ambitious” 10-year HDIP and its execution, saying “we will more realistically have to break that down into smaller time periods with clear goals and outcomes”.

Human Capital Management (HCM) will be a priority to support the workforce and will include consolidation of all HR systems to improve payroll, workforce planning, time management and rostering. 

The organisation is still dealing with historic Holiday Pay issues in two hospital districts and finance systems are also a priority.

The summary of a board meeting on May 13 says “the Board considered progress with Health NZ’s digital transformation programme, including the proposed implementation of a modern, integrated digital platform to support finance, workforce, and supply chain functions. 

“After extensive rigorous planning and analysis, the Board has approved a technology path subject to conditions being met, recognising the importance of digital systems in improving service integration, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.”

Darrow says the board is finalising a short list of priorities as part of its strategy work, and “technology will be at or near the top of that list, particularly in the context of HCM. 

“I have heard the feedback about legacy systems and we need to work out where the quick wins are to support frontline staff at the same time as building the future system. 

“Health New Zealand is now pushing decision making out to regions and districts so having digital tools with the associated support as close to the frontline as possible will enable quality decisions to be made where it counts,” he says.

In a public statement about resetting the direction for Health NZ, Darrow singled out technology as one of three key priority areas for the year ahead, saying there is work to do to “improve our digital systems and tools”. 

“Getting that right will make a real difference to how people work every day,” he says.

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The Government will provide direction on technology decisions across call centre technology, cyber security, networks and mobile apps as part of a new digital mandate aimed at ending duplication across the public service. 

Myles Ward, deputy government chief digital officer, told the Digital Health Leadership Forum on May 12 that the Government Digital Delivery Agency (GDDA) will group agencies around common technology needs including customer relationship management systems, financial management systems and HR platforms. 

"It does not make sense for 46 agencies to buy exactly the same thing," Ward told the Wellington audience.  

"By investing once and reusing capability many times, we can reduce duplicated tech across the system and reshape how agencies adopt and use digital services.” 

The changes form part of the government's Digital Target State, which has been approved by Cabinet and moves away from what Ward described as "bespoke agency by agency solutions toward deliberate system design." 

He said the current approach has created a $13 billion government digital investment pipeline over the next five years. 

The GDDA will create groupings of agencies based on similarity of need to scale solutions, reduce duplication and use capacity more effectively. This approach aims to move from projects to enduring capability and from bespoke procurement to reuse as the default option. 

The target state includes plans for common technology that must be used by multiple agencies, including one government app, one digital wallet, one messaging system for customers, a system data exchange platform and an AI gateway. 

Ward said the changes represent "system discipline applied where needs are genuinely in a common way" rather than "uniformity for its own sake." 

The government is also using accelerators to reduce the size and complexity of the technology footprint across the system. Three priority accelerators are: accelerating cloud adoption, using AI to unwind technical debt, and testing the feasibility of a common desktop across government. 

Ward said this will mean rethinking traditional approaches to capital and operational expenditure to better support modern scalable services.  

He said the current public service operating model is "no longer fit for purpose”. 

"Successive reforms.. have hardwired some silos. Today, these silos show up as duplication, inefficiency, slow and cautious decision making and an aversion to risk that often works against collaboration,” he told the more than 200 attendees. 

Digital identity will be a foundation of joined-up services, allowing them to be designed around people rather than organisations as information verified by one agency will be able to be securely reused by citizens across services with their consent. 

AI will also play a key role, with the GDDA leading a coordinated AI programme focused on common tools, safe and responsible use, workforce capability and common platforms. 

The return on investment is projected to be in the billions over time, he said.  

Image: Myles Ward, deputy government chief digital officer, speaking at the Digital Health Leadership Forum on May 12

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The Medical Products Bill will create a modern regulatory framework for software used in healthcare, targeting therapeutic applications and not administrative tools, says associate minister of health Casey Costello. 

Costello spoke at the Digital Health Leadership Forum in Wellington on May 12 where she said the new legislation will regulate software and artificial intelligence only when used for therapeutic purposes such as diagnosis, treatment guidance or disease monitoring. 

General administrative and operational tools, including clinical administration systems and AI scribes, will remain outside the regulatory scope, she confirmed.

The Medical Products Bill replaces the Therapeutic Products Act, which the government repealed in 2024, and is expected to be introduced in 2026.

"Good regulation enables innovation rather than stifling it," Costello told the forum. 

"The bill will replace an outdated regulatory framework with a modern, flexible one that supports both safety and, importantly, innovation."

She told the more than 200 attendees that the framework aligns with international definitions and takes what she described as a "targeted and proportionate approach" to oversight. 

It allow for a “flexible, risk-proportionate approval pathway” designed to accommodate innovative and evolving technologies.

"It provides certainty for industry, supports exports and enables the safe uptake of digital health tools across the system," said Costello.

She also said that cyber security, privacy and data protection are key to public confidence in the health system and digital health organisations must meet appropriate standards for security, privacy and assurance.

"Innovation must go hand in hand with accountability," Costello said. 

"This is not slowing innovation, it is about making sure digital services are trusted, resilient and sustainable, especially as technology becomes more embedded in care delivery."

The Digital Health Leadership Forum was co-led by HiNZ and the Digital Health Association.

Image: Associate minister of health Casey Costello speaking at the Digital Health Leadership Forum in Wellington on May 12

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Cloud-native enterprise platforms can deliver the scalability and resilience needed to support Health New Zealand's modernisation efforts under the Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP), says Workday’s Global Head of Healthcare Strategy John Kravitz.

The Plan aims to create a more connected health system across New Zealand, with digital modernisation identified as key to improving patient outcomes and operational efficiency.

Kravitz, a former healthcare CIO, says the Workday platform addresses the fragmentation that slows care.

"Most large health systems struggle under a patchwork of legacy systems that create bottlenecks," he says. 

"By establishing a single, authoritative source of truth, we allow the system to absorb large-scale organisational shifts seamlessly."

Kravitz points to Banner Health as an example, where consolidation reduced application volume by 50 per cent for more than 50,000 workers, saying this allows focus to be redirected back to patient outcomes while mitigating risk and reducing complexity.

Workday's unified architecture also delivers continuous innovation through two major updates annually without traditional re-implementation risks. 

"A national health system cannot afford upgrade freezes," Kravitz explains. 

"Because you cannot customise Workday, the upgrade process is expedited."

He says true resilience is built at the bedside and by automating identity lifecycle management through integrations with tools like SailPoint, the platform ensures healthcare workers have appropriate access immediately. 

Kravitz says Health NZ's connectivity goals under the HDIP mirror what health systems globally are striving for and to achieve this you need a secure open ecosystem hub. 

Workday offers an API-first architecture that flows worker data into clinical rostering and payroll systems in real-time. Rochester Regional Health used this approach to nearly triple their integration capacity to more than 130 secure connections.

Kravitz says the platform unifies workforce planning with financial data, allowing care model changes to be immediately reflected in recruitment pipelines and budgets. 

And when pay equity or regulatory shifts occur, customers can update entire structures and pay rules without writing a single line of code.

The platform also supports rapid role re-profiling as health systems shift toward hospital-at-home and community-based care models, which also form part of New Zealand’s HDIP.

Kravitz says security concerns are top of mind for health systems around the world and New Zealand is not immune as shown by a number of high-profile health system breaches in early 2026.

“Workday applies the same security standards used for government and federal agency customers globally,” he says, adding that the era of Agentic AI raises a critical question.

“How do we innovate without exposing data to the public internet? At Workday, your data never leaves the 'closed wall' of our environment,” he says.

Source: Workday media release

Sector updates are provided by organisations to eHealthNews.nz and have not necessarily been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the organisation issuing the release.

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Lester Levy concludes his tenure as Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora board chair at the end of this month with Mark Darrow taking over from May alongside new board members Michael Schubert and Bryan Betty.

Health NZ chief executive Dale Bramley paid tribute to Levy’s service over nearly two years, saying he has overseen system stabilisation and achieved significant improvements in patient access during his time as chair and previously as commissioner.

Bramley says Levy also achieved a turnaround in financial performance during this time, describing it as “twin feats that are seldom achieved simultaneously."

Health Minister Simeon Brown announced the new appointments, saying Darrow brings expertise in finance, audit, risk, and assurance, which will be critical to driving performance and accountability.

Michael Schubert joins the board as a professional director with experience in financial stewardship, audit and risk, and organisational change in complex, regulated environments including health.

Bryan Betty, currently chair of General Practice New Zealand, brings clinical and health system expertise, particularly in primary care. 

"Primary care is central to the performance of the health system," Betty says. 

"I am committed to ensuring it is well supported and connected, particularly across the primary–secondary interface, workforce development, the sustainability of general practice, and improving equity of outcomes."

The board changes occur as Health NZ prepares to transition to a nationally planned, locally and regionally delivered health system from 1st July 2026.

"This will shift decision-making closer to patients, communities and frontline services, helping ensure care is more responsive to local needs,” Minister Brown says.

However, the Public Service Association Te Pukenga Here Tikanga Mahi warns that board changes alone cannot address systemic funding issues, particularly in digital services.

"At the end of the day, changing the Board will not help unless the Government provides the increased funding the public health system urgently needs," says the union’s national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.

"One priority must be digital services which a modern public health system relies on. Under this government hundreds of experienced digital experts have been lost, upgrades have stalled, and hospitals have been left with a legacy of IT outages that have forced clinicians onto whiteboards and paper forms. You can’t run a modern health system like that.”

Image: Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora board chair Lester Levy speaking at Digital Health Week 2025

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General practices in Te Waipounamu, South Island will be the first to begin onboarding to the Shared Digital Health Record from April with clinicians expected to begin accessing SDHR data from mid-2026.

The phased rollout will continue with Te Manawa Taki | Midland region, followed by Northern and Central regions. 

The SDHR is a clinical data connector, designed to securely share patient data across the healthcare system, eventually enabling healthcare providers nationwide to access and update core health information including allergies, adverse reactions, conditions, encounters, and observations.

At a February webinar hosted by HiNZ on the SDHR, Heath Tolley, portfolio group manager – digital enablers & integration at Health NZ, said recent high profile health data breaches have affected public confidence in health information sharing systems.

Consumer research by Health NZ showed one in five of those surveyed reported a significant impact on their trust in health information sharing systems. 

However, 83 percent of participants were still comfortable sharing health information through services like the shared digital health record to support their care.

The latest SDHR update says the staged roll-out ensures each region gets proper support and prevents overwhelming Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) and practices during the transition. 

Stage one of the onboarding process includes a mandatory patient notification period, during which practices must inform patients about the SDHR and give them the opportunity to opt out if they prefer their health information not to be shared. 

It is an opt-in record by default, so if patient’s do not choose to opt out, Health NZ takes a copy of patient data held in the practice's Patient Management System (PMS) during stage two.

The final stage, planned from mid-2026, will see existing regional shared electronic health records (SEHRs) begin integrating with the SDHR, enabling clinicians using those systems to access patient health information held in the national record.

The update says some onboarding processes for the SDHR, including registration, privacy and security assessments, and signing access and use agreements, will also support data collection for the Primary Care Health Target and the National Primary Care Dataset.

Practices will receive information about participating in the SDHR from their PHO before the process begins in their region. Healthcare providers can also contact shareddigitalhealthrecord@tewhatuora.govt.nz.

Watch the webinar on demand and claim your CPD certificates/CME credits.

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