Judges comment
“Emma’s work has had a positive impact across the country supporting clinicians and stretched services, but more significantly reaching vulnerable patient groups who may not otherwise have sought, or been able to access, medical care. Her strong relationship building, and operational and strategic input has established a sustainable model that will continue to deliver and improve patient outcomes. “

Nominator’s quote
“Emma has been able to create an extremely effective and successful telehealth model, including bespoke models of care when required, whilst supporting an ever-growing clinician workforce and supporting those working in face-to-face roles.”

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Profile
Emma Calvert has contributed to the transformation of rural healthcare access across Aotearoa New Zealand through collaborating with other agencies to establish and implement Ka Ora, the national Rural Telehealth Service.

As clinical director of Ka Ora, she has developed comprehensive clinical operations processes and workflows for telehealth clinicians, while also crafting bespoke solutions for different practices. This customised approach ensures that rural communities receive appropriate care while maintaining the viability of local healthcare providers.

Rural access
Ka Ora enables patients to connect with a clinician or kaiāwhina through video or telephone consultations from their homes: this is particularly valuable when their usual practice is at capacity or closed. This national service has reduced the need for many rural residents to travel long distances for medical care, significantly improving healthcare access for those who might otherwise go without.

Emma’s expertise extends beyond technical implementation to building strong professional networks and support systems. She established peer forums and regular processes that keep clinicians connected and updated, fostering a collaborative healthcare environment.

The impact of her work is evident in the thousands of patients who have successfully had their health need met through Ka Ora. The service has proven especially helpful for routine healthcare needs such as repeat prescriptions and medical advice for illnesses or injuries, providing quick access to clinical expertise that might otherwise involve significant waiting times.

Addressing workforce challenges
Emma’s work has helped address the chronic workforce challenges facing rural primary care and her strong relationship-building skills have been crucial in garnering support from both healthcare practices and clinicians.

For many working in rural primary care settings who have been facing workforce challenges for a while, they have been able to utilise Ka Ora to support their service, allowing them to review after-hours access in their areas to ensure it is effective as well as enabling them to remain sustainable.

Emma works with Practice Plus, building a workforce of clinicians that also remain in face-to-face work. Building peer groups and holding upskilling sessions to ensure they are supported has been paramount to its success.

Her expertise in clinical leadership and capability building has been crucial to creating a digital health asset that supports and improves health outcomes for rural communities across New Zealand.

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Judges comment
“We were impressed with the initiative shown by Lisa in her learning and initiative to help deliver a complete solution comprising many technical parts. She brought a high level of clinical experience of district nursing pathways to a project that has had wide-spread impact and benefit across urban and rural communities. She contributed across the project including engagement of varied stakeholders and her knowledge ensured the use of data and reporting to support patient care.”

Nominator’s quote
“Lisa’s knowledge and understanding of team needs, including the various individual personalities of team members, saw her develop an approach to implementation that would support everyone from the least knowledgeable IT user to the early adopter. The way in which Lisa has led this project has been the cornerstone to successful development and implementation.”

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Profile
Lisa Knowles is an accomplished district nurse, who now holds the nurse manager role across Nelson Marlborough District Nursing services. She is committed to high-quality patient care and adherence to best practices in the field. Her clinical expertise, accumulated over years of service, played a pivotal role in her collaboration to develop a patient management system (PMS) specifically tailored to meet the unique needs of district nursing.

A new approach
Prior to implementing this new PMS, Nelson Marlborough District Nursing was working across 3 different systems, including a 20-year-old Access database. It was increasingly clear a new approach was needed to improve efficiency and visibility of workloads.

Lisa worked with a project manager in collaboration with an indici development team to build and implement a new District Nursing PMS from inception to implementation. This included development of content, testing, data migration and educating a team of over 100 nurses to use the system.

The District Nurse PMS has now been implemented in several other locations in Te Waipounamu South Island and more organisations and providers are interested in implementation.

Clinical pathways
Lisa is an expert district nurse who is committed to high quality patient care and best practice in district nursing.

Her knowledge spans across various care pathways, and has been instrumental in shaping a PMS that aligns with the practical realities of district nursing. Her expertise in areas such as specialist wound care, oxygen therapy, intravenous antibiotics, palliative care, and long-term condition management ensured that each clinical pathway integrated into the system would be both relevant and effective.

Lisa recognised the critical importance of using data to support patient care and ensured that district nursing-specific reporting features were incorporated. This allows for streamlined documentation, improved data accuracy, and the ability to analyse outcomes, which ultimately contributes to enhanced patient care and supports ongoing service improvement.

Building and configuring the ACC functionality was also an essential and important aspect of the PMS to align with ACC DN contracts, giving clear visibility for claiming.

Relationships and expertise
Recognising that technology adoption can be challenging, Lisa developed a comprehensive approach that took into account the diverse levels of IT proficiency among her colleagues. From those with limited tech skills to early adopters, she ensured that everyone had the support they needed to embrace the new system confidently. Her ability to foster an inclusive environment has facilitated a smooth transition and encouraged team members to leverage the system to its full potential.

The successful development and implementation of the new PMS was largely due to Lisa's commitment to learning, to her team and to district nursing as a whole, clearly demonstrating the importance of having clinical ownership and partnership in the development of new, clinically-based IT products.

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Judges comment
“Ashwin embodies clinical leadership with his work and initiatives impacting a significant number of national organisations and large numbers of patients. His most recent innovation combines his knowledge of primary health, health IT, and emerging technology to support practitioners in the high pressure primary care sector to save time and work more effectively for patients.”

Nominator’s quote
“The combination of being a GP, understanding of primary healthcare, his health IT expertise, enormous work ethic and genuine desire to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders, has benefitted the primary health sector workforce and many many patients.”

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Profile
Ashwin Patel is a GP and highly respected leader in primary healthcare IT, with 30 years’ experience dedicated to transforming New Zealand’s healthcare landscape.

His contributions to various organisations, including Primary Health Organisations (PHOs), the Royal College of General Practitioners, and IT standards bodies, have significantly shaped the field. Ashwin’s expertise is regularly sought and by, and given freely, to the Ministry of Health and Health NZ Te Whatu Ora, as a trusted advisor on primary healthcare IT matters.

Ashwin’s expertise has contributed to the development of crucial healthcare IT initiatives, such as e-Referrals, e-Prescribing, and GP2GP systems. His deep understanding of primary healthcare, combined with his technical expertise and commitment to improving health outcomes, has benefited countless patients and healthcare providers across the country.

His dedication to improving healthcare IT has positively impacted the primary health sector workforce and enhanced healthcare outcomes for patients and communities across New Zealand.

Technology to enhance patient care
Ashwin is managing director of MyPractice, a widely used practice management software that supports around 15 percent of general practices in New Zealand.

He has also worked to develop Health365, a patient portal accessed by over 350,000 New Zealanders, which empowers patients to access their health information and engage actively in their care.

Recently, Ashwin developed "Second Opinion," a tool that leverages artificial intelligence to assist general practitioners during consultations. This solution provides GPs with a second opinion on consultation notes, interprets complex lab results, and helps create high-quality referral letters.

This game changing tool exemplifies Ashwin's commitment to using technology to enhance patient care and support healthcare professionals.

Clinical leadership
Ashwin’s clinical leadership is evident not only in his technical innovations but also in his service as chairman of a PHO and numerous committees within the primary healthcare sector. As a practicing GP who runs two medical centres, Ashwin brings a unique perspective that combines clinical insight with a profound understanding of healthcare IT.

He has generously provided his expertise to various health IT providers, often at no cost, demonstrating his dedication to advancing the field for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

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Be part of recognising excellence in health informatics and innovation by casting your vote for the winner of the 2024 Clinical Informatics Award.

Three exceptional clinicians have been chosen as finalists in this year’s award: Emma Calvert, clinical director, Ka Ora Telecare; Ashwin Patel, managing director, MyPractice; and Lisa Knowles, nurse manager, District Nursing Nelson Marlborough.

Check out profiles of each finalist online and cast your vote for the winner, to be announced at Digital Health Week 2024 this December 2-5 at Claudelands in Hamilton.

Voting closes at 5pm on 10 November (one vote per person).

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The prestigious CiLN award attracted 15 nominations this year and a judging panel has selected three finalists, it is now up to you to decide on the winner.

Judge and national chief clinical information officer Lara Hopley says the panel was again amazed by the exceptional group of candidates for the award.

“While some nominees showcased impressive first-time projects and localised innovations, others brought with them a remarkable pedigree, backed by years of experience driving digital health initiatives forward,” she says.

“These candidates have embraced the evolving landscape of healthcare with a wide-ranging portfolio of projects that speak to their enduring commitment to transformation.

“Being part of the judging process is always a privilege, as it not only allows us to witness such inspiring work but also highlights efforts that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.”

Hopley says it is now up to others to play their part and vote online.

“Please cast your vote for the candidate who resonates most with you and encourage your colleagues and friends to do the same. We cannot wait to see who wins.”

Accenture is sponsoring the award for the second year in a row and have generously provided $5000 to provide further education for the winner or to fund resources to further the initiative outlined in the submission.

The judges were; national chief clinical information officer and 2020 award winner Lara Hopley; 2023 award winner and allied health clinical informatics lead, Te Whatu Ora Canterbury and West Coast, Charlene Tan-Smith; and general manager of community and innovations at Moana Connect, Amio Matenga Ikihele.

Read about our previous CiLN Award winners online.


VOTE NOW for the winner of the 2024 Clinical Informatics Award

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The Clinical Informatics Award is back in its sixth year and is promoting the value that clinicians bring to whānau and community by providing data and digitally enabled clinical care.

The 2024 award is open to anyone with a clinical background and an interest in clinical informatics: this can be an individual or a clinical team, so get nominating today!

Accenture is sponsoring the award and have generously provided $5000 to provide further education for the winner or to fund resources to progress the initiative outlined in the submission. The prize also includes a year’s membership to HiNZ.

CiLN’s Clinical Informatics Position Statement, details five key areas in which clinical informaticians bring value to the sector; expertise, clinical leadership, stakeholder engagement, competence and capability, and communication. 

Nominees must be able to show how the care they provide meets at least one of these areas and all nominations will be judged by an expert panel to select the three finalists. 

The 2024 judges are; national chief clinical information officer and 2020 award winner Lara Hopley; 2023 award winner and allied health clinical informatics lead, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury and Te Tai o Poutini West Coast, Charlene Tan-Smith; and general manager of community and innovations at Moana Connect, Amio Matenga Ikihele.

Hopley says the judges are looking for everyday heroes who quietly go about their business. 

“Grassroots people—people in the community who brave the odds, face adversity, and still somehow manage to do health informatics,” she says. 

“This includes those who just help people around them, capably and competently sharing their digital nous and health informatics skills. 

“You must know somebody who fits this picture. If you do, give them a shout out as a leader or future leader who has helped you and your team,” Hopley says. 

Tan-smith says receiving the 2023 CiLN Award was unexpected and exciting.

“In practical terms, the award not only facilitates the showcasing of NZ clinician-developed technology on an international stage but has been a conversation starter regarding informatics and technology in Allied Health, opening doors to present at multiple events and lifting the profile of clinical informatics in NZ,” she says. 

“Seeing the award’s broader focus this year is exciting, opening it up to any clinician doing great work in the innovation and informatics spaces.”

Jacqui Lunday, chief allied health, scientific and technical at Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora encourages allied health professionals to apply and nominate others for the 2024 award.

“People do not necessarily get excited by data, but they do get excited about telling the story of how they have delivered change and it is so important that we show how clinical staff are leading change at the point of care,” she says.

“Allied health staff might not see themselves as ‘clinical informaticians’, but  they are often leading data driven improvements and I am a great believer in the need for us to tell and celebrate our stories.”

Accenture Aotearoa managing director health, Will Reedy, says Accenture looks forward to seeing the nominations for 2024 as clinicians across the motu continue to reimagine healthcare to enable better access, experience and outcomes.

"The theme for Digital Health Week 2024 is Navigating the Future NOW and despite the many challenges in the health system there could not be a better time for clinical leaders to shape the future of health and wellness in Aotearoa bringing together care, compassion and digital health innovation," he says.

Nominations close on 25 September 2024. A public vote will decide the winner, who will be announced at Digital Health Week 2024 this December in Hamilton.

The Clinical Informatics Leadership Network, (CiLN) partnered with Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) to launch the Award in 2019.

CiLN is supported and funded by HiNZ. Anyone with a clinical background and an interest in data/and or digital can apply to join by filling in this online form.

Nominate yourself or your deserving ‘everyday hero’ in clinical informatics here.

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Allied health professionals are pivotal agents of change in the health system and must leverage data to tell stories about their impact and advocate for their role, says the new chief allied health, scientific, and technical at Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora.

Jacqui Lunday was the chief health professions officer for the Scottish Government before moving to work in Waitaha Canterbury in 2018 and believes allied health professionals are at the forefront of transforming healthcare.

“My interest in data and digital comes from a passion around driving change at the point of care: looking at the opportunities for data driven improvement to show that the changes we make are actually delivering real and measurable impact for our systems and better outcomes for the consumers, whānau and communities we serve,” she tells eHealthNews

Lunday says the work of allied health scientific and technical staff goes beyond treatment, as it is about early intervention, prevention, and supporting long-term well-being, and the effective use of data is key to demonstrate their value.

"It is not enough to say that we are improving clinical outcomes," she explains. 

"We need to show how our interventions lead to faster access to care, shorter hospital stays, reduced readmissions, and ultimately, better quality of life for our patients.”

She believes that when allied health professionals can quantify the value they bring, they can advocate more effectively for their role in transforming the healthcare system.

"We have a lot we can do to change people's perceptions of what it is to age well," she says. 

"Whether it is using tools like the LifeCurve to predict and prevent frailty or tracking the outcomes of rehabilitation programs, data allows us to tell the story of how allied health is making a difference.”

However, Lunday acknowledges that there are challenges in achieving this vision. One is the varying levels of digital literacy across the healthcare workforce. 

"We have new graduates who are digital natives, but we also have many professionals who are not as comfortable with technology," she says. 

Lunday says it is crucial to prioritise digital skills training and make it an expectation in practice going forward.

She adds that the greatest resource in allied health is the people, and they have the biggest potential to impact patient outcomes.

“It is about ongoing conversations about data to inform decision making: using data to understand what is happening within the system, and how we are using our resource in service of that flow. Those are the conversations that need to happen if we are going to be impactful.”

Lunday concludes that there is a need to be creative and innovative in approaching the challenges facing the healthcare system, but says above all, “we need to be data-driven.” 

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Lara Hopley, chief clinical informatics officer (CCIO) Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora

How is the CCIO office contributing to Digital Health?

In medicine at present, we have a lot of problems—overloaded clinicians, technical debt, siloes, fiefdoms, unwanted variation that puts people at risk, waste and gaps: especially gaps. As the name suggests, clinical informatics is there to help bridge the gap between clinical medicine and information science.

Few people are good at both. We have brought together a group of experts in both fields, complementing one another (and even complimenting one another, too)! It is pathetically easy to trade off short-term gains for long-term pain; with clinical informatics, we try to step back and look at the bigger picture. This article introduces you to this nascent team, that will grow and develop over time, but what are we actually going to do?

Here are the team leaders who will work with you to make this happen.

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Kate Yeo, clinical informatics director, provider engagement
A registered nurse who has worked in several senior roles and countries, Kate Yeo leads the team of senior clinical staff under the banner of clinical informatics provider engagement.

“We are clinical specialists with expertise in leading people and organisations through their information technology journeys. We are champions for digital transformation across the health sector, communicating strategic direction and principles at national, regional, and local levels,” she says.

“We support health providers to engage with data & digital, communicating their needs and ideas.”

Yeo says this team sits at the intersection of front-line clinical staff, clinical leadership, and information technology. Her team is made up of the following clinical informaticians;

• Tina Sun
• David Robiony-Rogers
• Vicki Quincey
• Andy Childs
• Andrew Miller
• Steve Earnshaw
• Bev Nicolls
  

Matt Valentine, clinical informatics director, information flow
With 16 year of ED practice in Whakatāne (ongoing) and over a decade in clinical informatics there, Valentine is thrilled to have recently started in the position of clinical informatics director – information flow.

“This exciting role allows me to advise, assist and guide data and digital projects and functions in which we need to ensure that the right health data is available to the right person, whether that person is a clinician, a health consumer, or whānau,” he says.

“This is a broad remit, so areas of focus currently are the Hira programme, CanShare, and the National Data Platform.”

Brian Yow, clinical informatics director, governance, quality & safety
Yow is passionate about delivering excellent services that build towards a safer, better, more equitable and sustainable health system. Originally a doctor at Counties Manukau District, he gradually delved into informatics, quality, risk management and hospital operations and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (RACMA).

His team’s priorities include ensuring an interconnected, transparent and accountable digital clinical governance ecosystem, implementing safety-by-design methodology to enhance the delivery lifecycle, and embedding continuous quality improvement principles to foster a culture upon which excellence can flourish.

Yow’s team has two clinical Informatics Leads – Governance, Quality & Safety, specialising in different national portfolios.

• Sadhana Maraj
• Nathan Kershaw
  

Sarndrah Horsfall, GM, digital enablement and engagement
Horsfall's background is in telecommunications, however since moving into health she has worked for the UK Government on population health, led a patient safety government organisation and, more recently, worked in health regulation in the UK and Australia driving new health reforms using digital technology. Horsfall is ably supported by:

• Eleanor MacTavish
• Keita Twist
• Karen Ellis
• Manu Sione
• Pikuia Reihana
• Corrie Whitehead
• Tom McLean
• Margaret Wikaire
• Tia Rameka
• Sarona Iosefa
• Belen Ortega

Jon Herries, group manager - new health technology & innovation
Having travelled through the worlds of clinical, commissioning, project management and private consulting, Herries has a good understanding of what integrated care can look like.

“My current areas of focus in on emerging technology and innovative ways of using our current systems better and helping to build the ecosystem we deserve,” he says. Herries leads the following:

• Eileen Duddy
• Mary Crowe
• Ben Briggs
• Rāwiri Kerehoma-Hoerara
• Wade Reweti
• Hayley Johnson
• Lavan Mahes
• Xinxue Tan
• Ezra Jennings-Pedro

Sonya Morice, Group Manager - Clinical Informatics
Morice previously worked at the South Island Alliance Programme Office for more than 11 years and now leads a team of four clinical informatics MDT squad leads.

• Wendy Smith
• Karen Shaw
• Lucy Westbrooke
• Fiona Lee
  

Hopley says, "these are the people and teams you will encounter more and more as the CCIO team helps you to find solutions that will work in the long term".

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Kia ora from the CiLN Advisory Panel,

This quarter, we are delighted to welcome Wendy Smith and Charlene Tan-Smith into the Panel as representatives of the National Allied Health, Scientific and Technical Informatics Group (NAHSTIG) Council. Their addition is a testament to the growth and evolution of our profession-based national groups. These groups continue to produce a high calibre of clinicians who have chosen to specialise in, or contribute to, digital health.

Our Advisory Panel has a diverse range of expertise, and members regularly present and share the knowledge, value, and requirements for Clinical Informaticians across the health and disability services landscape. Our members include Mat Bailey, Greig Russell, Tamzin Brott, Wendy Smith/Charlene Tan-Smith, Kate Yeoh, Karen Shaw, Steve Earnshaw, Lara Hopley, Emma Collins, Emily Gill, Nathan Billing, Nathan Kershaw, Becky George, and Tim Corbett.

The Advisory Panel’s focus for 2024 is on Workforce Development, a collaborative effort in partnership with Lara Hopley (CCIO) and her team, supported by Tim Corbett, CEO of HiNZ. This work spans three key aspects of development: shaping a Clinical Informatics career pathway in NZ, identifying accessible accreditation to support a career in Clinical Informatics, and demonstrating the value impact of this workforce on the safety, security, and quality of our digital health across health and disability services.

The work we are undertaking is not only for employers and interested clinicians, it is a concerted effort to inform the wider health sector about the essential factors employers will look for in the recruitment of Clinical Informaticians and to provide clinicians with clear direction for navigating such a career pathway. Our intention is to ensure the wider health sector is well-informed about the workforce needs in digital health, can confidently recruit to the value of capability and to show the rigour of expertise across the field of Clinical Informatics. We look forward to sharing this work as we progress it.

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A dietitian with a specialist interest in epilepsy and ketogenic diets has won the 2023 Clinical Informatics Leadership Award.

In its fifth year, the Clinical Informatics Leadership Award recognises the leadership, mahi and achievements of clinicians working in the field of data and digital health.

Charlene Tan-Smith is Allied Health clinical informatics lead, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury and Te Tai o Poutini West Coast.

The judges said she demonstrates the ability to think creatively at the strategic level while also solving problems systematically at the micro level.

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Her project work at Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury includes the use of a closed-loop digital referral acknowledgement system, passive data gathering, and dashboard reporting for Allied Health operational visibility.

She is also the clinical lead for the South Island Ketogenic Service, and clinical director and co-founder of KetoSuite, a digital tool that aids ketogenic practitioners in New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Te Whatu Ora chief data and digital Leigh Donoghue presented the trophy to Tan-Smith at Digital Health Week in Hamilton on November 30, 2023.

Tan-Smith said she had not expected to win, as she was up against two other strong finalists; Emma Collins, senior professional practice, Women's and Children's Health, Otago University and John Conneely, quality systems manager, Te Whatu Ora Te Matu Māui Hawkes Bay

"I am so proud to be representing Allied Health. I am grateful to have amazing teams around me including my e-health and CCDM teams. This award is recognition of their hard work."

More than 1000 public votes were cast to select the winner, who receives a free pass and speaking slot at Digital Health Week 2024 and $5000 from Accenture, to fund further study or attend a conference.

Accenture Aotearoa managing director health Will Reedy congratulated Tan-Smith on winning the Award.

“As a leader, she has worked tirelessly to bridge the divide between hospital and community services in partnership with Māori to champion codesigned solutions,” he said.

“I am looking forward to hearing from Tan-Smith at HiNZ 2024 on how the CiLN Award has contributed to Aotearoa’s health system transformation journey. He waka eke noa – we are all in this together.”

Read Tan-Smith’s profile on eHealthNews.nz.

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Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has run two national Clinical Digital Academies this year to support the development of a clinical IT and informatics workforce that can lead change in the health sector.

Rosie Dobson, GM health services research and evaluation, says the academy is a joint initiative between the data and digital and the service improvement and innovation directorates at Te Whatu Ora.

"There are a lot of data and digital initiatives happening across the motu that require clinical leadership to support and enable them," she says.

The Clinical Digital Academy was developed at the former Waitematā DHB, in collaboration with the NIHI at the University of Auckland, to train its clinical IT leaders of the future in 2019. It was run by the DHB three times before expanding to cover the Northern Region in 2022.

This year the academy went national and ran in May in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and then in October in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where 24 people attended the one-week block course.

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Dobson says they were overwhelmed with applications for the national course and chose participants to ensure they represented a diverse range of clinical professions, were from a range of settings in the health system, and from around the country.

"The strength of this approach is they learn a lot from each other in how they are engaging with systems and what is available in different areas, as well as how systems are used in different contexts," she says.

"Clinicians want more skills in data and digital and we are offering training to help them implement or make improvements within their services."

Dobson says the course is a mixture of practical and traditional sessions covering topics such as; data and analytics, leading clinical change, design and evaluation, and AI and future technologies.

"We have engaged a number of local teams to lead sessions and showcase the systems they use," she explains.

Dobson says the response to the national academies has been overwhelmingly positive with attendees saying it should be continued and they would recommend it to others.

Leah Wilkins, clinical nurse specialist, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha and Te Tai o Poutini, says she applied to attend the academy to develop skills to better harness data and digital technology in her work.

"I have gained a deeper understanding and inspiration of how to utilise data to inform and drive improvement projects," she says.

"I am already using design methods I have learnt in the development of digital solutions for current projects, and I have more confidence in leading these changes."

Stacey Simpson, clinical nurse specialist, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury says the presenters were incredibly inspiring, and the fantastic mix of attendees made for some really interesting discussions.

"The syllabus took us through a very considered data and digital journey imparting foundational knowledge and practical skills that I am looking forward to applying back in my clinical role," she says.

"I came away reinvigorated with a ton of new ideas and strategies for a number of projects.

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Judge’s quote
“John Conneely demonstrates a breadth of sector involvement well beyond his original clinical expertise. His tenacity and determination to fulfil the vision of digital implementation across systems and processes, made him standout amongst the applicants. Over the years, Conneely has demonstrated a tenacity and commitment to consistently engage and involve all key stakeholders, recognising that this work for him, has ‘been a marathon and not a sprint’.”

Nominator’s quote
“John Conneely has put in a ton of (mostly invisible) work - a very long and very painful slog. For 20 years he has been of slowly chipping away at it - thousands of small steps on the road (full of pot holes ) to full digital records.”

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Profile
John Conneely has spent the last 20 years quietly working with the IT department at Te Whatu Ora Te Matu Māui Hawke’s Bay to move the Mental Health and Addictions Service (MH&AS) away from being wholly paper-based, to now almost 100 percent digital health records.

In 2008, he enabled the contracted NGOs to become integrated into the former DHB’s patient administration system, which meant no more fragmented health records across different providers. It provides a single health record for all those who need access to it, including all GPs in Hawkes Bay, and at no cost to NGOs.

He has taken the burden of Programme for the Integration of Mental Health Data (PRIMHD) compliance and reporting away from contracted NGOs, freeing up their resources to engage with people in need.

Conneely has also built a whole suite of business intelligence reports – so that planners, commissioners, funders, managers, clinicians and NGO staff can see clinically and operationally useful information such as MH&AS dashboards.

Impact
Conneely has participated in the design and development of a number of products and applications, including the patient administration system and clinical portal. He consistently works to ensure the digital design supports practitioners and enables the electronic applications to be fit for purpose and adding value to day-to-day practice.

He also contributes regionally with enthusiasm and passion, working across the Central Region to enable digital architecture and functionality that supports end users to meet expectations and ensure outcome measures that are user friendly and efficient.

Within the Hawkes Bay, he has worked to establish and monitor electronic and digital health record requirements. He has made continuous efforts to present data in an objective, consistent and understandable way, reflecting outcome measures that enhance practice and experiences for the end user practitioners and ultimately the clients and whānau accessing mental health and addiction services.

Competence and capability
Conneely’s experience with health records, digital tools and his clinical mental health nursing experience and practice give him insight and understanding of the use of IT clinical tools, and measure and how they can enable and support day-to-day clinical practice . His credibility and recent currency of clinical presence provides staff with support and a real understanding of the demands of face-to-face practice.

Conneely is a "never say no " type of person: he will always find a way to help and has immense capacity to sustain his work with people. He is capable both in the clinical and electronic spheres and has the motivation and energy to make a real difference for clinical and support staff and the people we provide services for.

Stakeholder engagement
Conneely has forged relationships and sustained local networks with many stakeholder over 20 years.

He has worked across the health sector supporting and enabling all NGO mental health and addiction providers to meet reporting requirements. He works tirelessly to maintain engagement and provide information and instructions that are easily understood by non tech-savvy practitioners.

His warm, approachable style and calm demeanour makes people feel that any question is OK to ask. Over many years, Conneely has been the person who keeps on presenting and educating about functionality and requirements of digital health records, outcomes measures, and IT tools.

Read profile article about John Conneely

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Judge’s quote
“Tan-Smith has worked to bridge the divide between hospital and community, partnering with the Hauora Māori Team to ensure codesigned solutions. She demonstrates the ability to think creatively at the strategic level while also solving problems systematically at the micro level. Tan-Smith’s clinical informatics leadership ranges from leading the leaders to applied informatics.”

Nominator’s quote
“Tan- Smith's energy and desire to bring people along to achieve and celebrate successes, have led to a growth in enthusiasm for informatics, data and digital within all the Allied Health specialities, managers and clinicians across multiple campuses.”

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Profile
Charlene Tan-Smith has recently been appointed Allied Health clinical informatics manager, for Te Whatu Ora covering Waitaha Canterbury and Te Tai o Poutini West Coast. She is the clinical lead for the South Island Ketogenic Service, and clinical director and co-founder of KetoSuite.

She recently completed her doctorate of professional practice, where she applied a theoretical framework of acceptability to a suite of medicalised ketogenic technology.

Her work has led to successful pilots and projects in Waitaha Canterbury, such as the closed-loop digital referral acknowledgement system, passive data gathering, and dashboard reporting for Allied Health operational visibility.

She contributes actively to the community of clinical informatics and leads her allied health workforce at Canterbury as they co-design, engage with, and implement digital solutions across a range of professions and sectors.

Stakeholder engagement
Tan-Smith has been a passionate digital health participant for many years. As part of her dietetics specialist interest in epilepsy and ketogenic diets she independently developed and refined a digital solution, KetoSuite, for her local consumers that now aids ketogenic practitioners in New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom.

She always has the consumer at the centre of her treatment, service and digital developments and has consistently worked with the families who use the digital solution to implement and integrate their feedback.

Tan-Smith emphasises stakeholder engagement for any project she is involved in, starting with awareness raising and continuing through to communication of deployment and feedback.

One example is the closed-loop digital referral acknowledgement system where she supported and led the eHealth team and Allied Health specialities through a fail-fast agile development for the pilot and on to a successful completion and deployment of the system.

Tan-Smith needed to achieve buy-in from seven Allied Health specialities, managers and staff and achieve a high level of stakeholder engagement for them to complete the necessary tasks to contribute to success.

She provided early clear communication of the goals of the project and the benefits to each department of the resulting data and how they could access and use it operationally. In addition, she demonstrated through a pilot that data was digitally collected passively without burdening staff, with existing workflows primarily retained.

Tan-Smith partnered with the Hauora Māori team to ensure an appropriate and custom fit for their unique operational workflows and challenges in measuring activity. All Allied Health departments completed their documentation tasks within the target timeframe, and the system went live on time.

Clinical leadership
Tan-Smith's clinical informatics leadership ranges from providing campus or regional informatics strategies for informing decision-makers, to using systematic approaches to solving technical and operational challenges of data collection, reporting and interpretation.

She has provided technical strategy direction for implementing standardised but localised Cortex forms between the Christchurch Hospital and Burwood campuses. This ensures future-proofing for these and other campuses in development, governance, and reporting on the platform for passively gathering data to represent acute demand and shortfalls for Allied Health to inform operational decision-making.

The decision-making around how to achieve standardisation of data with the deployment of Cortex to the Burwood campus is an example of higher-level strategy decisions that will have ongoing and future impact on other campuses and the regions.

This required leadership to effectively explain complex technical issues to decision-makers and communicate what was the best course of action and why.

Her work has led to Christchurch Hospital being the first to report Hauora Māori community activity datasets systematically.

Read profile about Charlene Tan-Smith

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Judges comment
“Collins promotes the integration of the science that underpins clinical practice with its information and knowledge. She demonstrates the management and use of information and communication technologies to promote the health of people, whānau, and communities across the motu. Only with collaborative leadership such as Collins' will more providers and leaders understand the impact of digital health.”

Nominator’s quote
“Collins is universally respected for her thoughtful, respectful and timely contributions and her ability to work with others, showing her personal competence and capability of collaboration, which irrespective of technology, still underpins health informatics.”

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Profile
Emma Collins works in both clinical and education roles. Her clinical practice is as a registered nurse in child health/ paediatrics in Dunedin Hospital at Te Whatu Ora Southern. She also works in the education sector as a senior professional practice fellow with the Department of Women's and Children's Health, at Otago University.

Collins has been active in nursing informatics for over ten years and has been a leader in the use of electronic portfolios for nursing, predominantly in education. She has supported the use of e-learning and curriculum mapping in the academic nursing space and co-authored "Guidelines: Informatics for nurses entering practice".

She also serves as secretary of the College of Child & Youth Nurses Group of the NZ Nurses Organisation and on the University of Otago Digital Health Group.

Competence and capability
Part of the nursing role in 2023 is to understand the digital health requirements of clinical practice settings and to be able to competently manage the practice environment. Collins is not only competent and capable in the delivery of the required education, but understands the technological developments being met by nurses in the clinical practice setting.

She played a pivotal role in the development of the "Guidelines: Informatics for nurses entering practice" (2018), which have been shared with each School of Nursing in New Zealand.

This has led to a consultation request from Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, to specifically ask for nursing informatics input for their national curriculum. This will help develop the competence and capability of nurses into the future.

The Nursing Council also says the HiNZ NMI executive will be a valuable resource when it comes time for the Registered and Enrolled Nurse competencies to be re-developed to include an informatics lens.

Clinical Leadership
Collins is a role model for nurses. She is a member of the Hira Clinical Reference Group and is chair of the HiNZ Nursing and Midwifery Informatics group (NMI).

Her purpose in this is to encourage nurses and midwives to engage with health informatics, acknowledge excellence in this field, strengthen the visibility of informatics, and advance nursing and midwifery practice in relation to informatics, data and digital health.

Under her leadership, the membership has grown and the executive has broadened to better reflect the workforce and the group's members. Collins collates the monthly e-newsletter and actively encourages participation in conversations on the eHealth Forum.

Collins has also reached out to the nursing networks, publishing items in the College of Nurses Aotearoa journal about her work with HiNZ, and organising presentations about HiNZ and digital health in collaboration with Nurse Executives Aotearoa.

Collins has also lobbied across the senior nursing leadership at Ministry of Health and Nursing Council, promoting health informatics as a legitimate discipline of nursing practice, both clinically and as part of nurse education.

Health is one of the most rapidly changing environments in which to work, this combined with the developing digital world makes for an often confusing environment for nurses who may view digital health and technology as a burden rather than a benefit. Collins’ leadership skills have proved important in bridging this gap.

Read profile about Emma Collins

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As we enter the final quarter of 2023, the CiLN Advisory Panel reflected on the year that has been and the potential for what could be ahead. The result of the election will certainly have an impact across our Health and Disability system, and while our workforce continues to focus on delivering the best care possible, we are determined to deliver much needed support across our services, working together to make the most of the digital tools in hand.

The fact that many of our colleagues in digital health leadership roles face some uncertainty in their immediate future did not limit the debate on what our health workforce needs. We all agreed that the continued development of our digital health clinical workforce is critical in educating, leading, and supporting our multidisciplinary colleagues to navigate the technological integration within their services.

We recognise that several international bodies, including the WHO, BMIA, AIDH and the FCI, either already have or are working on professional competency frameworks. So, while we work to catch up with our international colleagues, we have support from esteemed academic colleagues across Auckland, Otago and Massey Universities, who are investigating and researching how best to embed clinical informatics for greatest effect. We also have the Nursing and Midwifery, and Allied Health, Scientific and Technical Informatics Groups pooling their resources and empowering the workforce to develop their skills and expand their career horizons.

To align with and contribute across this valuable mahi, the CiLN Advisory Panel are partnering with our CCIO, Lara Hopley and with Tim Corbett, CEO of HiNZ, to form a cross sector working group focussed on digital health clinical workforce development.

Our immediate focus is on streamlining effort, time, and resource by scoping the national and international work already underway and accessible. The three main topics of interest are in identifying: career pathways, educational tiers of qualification and stakeholder engagement/impact.

These topics were chosen because they did not duplicate what is already in place or being worked on across New Zealand. We are already fortunate to have a number of courses, institutes, and a Digital Health Academy in place. However, the panel members regularly receive anecdotal feedback on the value of their roles and the need for more of their expertise across organisations.

Working in partnership means that a cohesive approach can be taken to pulling all of these valuable threads of mahi together. The outcome is focused on enabling our health providers, industry partners, and the health and disability workforce to have clinical experts embed safe and reliable systems, that realise the full benefit and value for the consumer and the workforce.

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Vote now for your ‘everyday hero’ to be the winner of the 2023 Clinical Informatics Leadership Award.

The three finalists this year are; Emma Collins, senior professional practice, Women's and Children's Health, Otago University; Charlene Tan-Smith, Allied Health clinical Informatics manager, Te Whatu Ora – Waitaha Canterbury & Te Tai o Poutini West Coast; and John Conneely, quality systems manager, Te Whatu Ora Te Matu Māui Hawke’s Bay.

You can read profiles of each finalist on eHealthNews.nz and have until 5pm on Friday November 10, 2023 to cast your vote online.

The winner of the award will be announced at Digital Health Week 2023 on November 30 at Claudelands in Hamilton.

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The judging panel comprised of former winners Lara Hopley, Becky George and Alana Harper, who were impressed with the calibre of the nominees, the breadth of experience and sector representation.

“We would like to thank all the nominees for their hard work and being prepared to put themselves ‘out there’. Thank you also to the nominators for the time you have taken in entering the submissions: the stories, examples and passion you put into the submission is really what we use, so thank you for showcasing your heroes,” the judges said.

“The clinical informatics workforce continues to grow and extend their influence demonstrating on a daily basis their value and expertise.

“Looking ahead to next year we are keen to see the growth of involvement of clinical informatics in our local iwi partnerships with an equitable health outcome focus.”

The winner will receive a free pass and speaking slot at Digital Health Week NZ 2024 and $5000 from Accenture, which they can use to fund further study or attend an international conference.

VOTE NOW for the winner of the 2023 Clinical Informatics Leadership Award

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Nominate your ‘everyday hero’ who helps you do your job by making information flow to where it needs to be, for the 2023 Clinical Informatics Leadership Award.

Award judge and national chief clinical information officer Lara Hopley says, “clinical informatics is fundamental to making your job easier and more enjoyable. It's about getting the right information to the right person at the right time. It's difficult.

“We want to identify those who make this a bit easier. Do you know someone who makes things work? Who just makes information flow?”

The Clinical Informatics Leadership Network, (CiLN) partnered with Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) to launch the Clinical Informatics Leadership Award in 2019.

Now in its fifth year, Hopley encourages people to “give a shout out to a leader who has supported you and your team.

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“An everyday hero, a clinician and someone you trust: someone who has made a difference in your day to day interaction with information you need to do your job well. This is your chance to give something back.”

CiLN’s Clinical Informatics Position Statement, details five key ways in which clinical informaticians bring value to the sector, which are; expertise, clinical leadership, stakeholder engagement, competence and capability, and communication.

The 2023 award is looking for a clinical informatician who best demonstrates the ‘value added’ in two of these areas.

Accenture is sponsoring the award with $5,000 in funding for the winner to attend a conference or do further study. They will also receive a free pass and speaking slot at Digital Health Week NZ 2024.

Accenture NZ health lead Will Reedy says, “health systems worldwide are at a breaking point due to workforce constraints making traditional healthcare models unsustainable and New Zealand is no different.

“Clinical leadership in digital health across NZ has a unique opportunity to reinvent healthcare to enable better access, experience and outcomes: enabling clinicians to do what they do best—help people.

“We look forward to seeing the nominations for 2023,” he says.

To be eligible for the award you must be a member of CiLN, which is free to join.

Nominations close on 14 September 2023 and three finalists will be chosen by the judging panel. A public vote will decide the winner, who will be announced at Digital Health Week NZ 2023 this November in Hamilton.


NOMINATE NOW

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CiLN draws members from throughout the health and disability workforce. As we navigate the reforms underway and in support of our hard working staff, we are consolidating our position as an expert resource, advocates for a digitally capable and confident workforce and advisors on the quality and safety of the systems we use. We work in partnership across health and disability agencies and organisations to enable our consumers to receive improved outcomes as a result of the knowledge and experience that exists within our community of practice.

The 2023 Digital Health Leadership Summit
This year, I switched from participant to observer at a table. Instead of ten different conversations, I had the same conversation ten times over, yet each time was very different as the different groups cycled through.

Our table focused on the current and future health workforce requirements needed to deliver the Digital Health aspirations of Te Pae Tata, the National Health Plan that is the first iteration of bringing to life the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) legislation. We used an appreciative inquiry approach to understand the strengths and passions of the current workforce from the leaders in the room. What did we learn?

While everyone was tired, and for some their professional futures were very uncertain, there was no loss of passion for Digital Health or Health Informatics. There is a fundamental shared belief that the role of a Health Informatician is distinct and necessary for the current ambitious health reforms to be successful.

What became obvious was that we all belonged to different professional tribes within the wider Health Informatics culture, including the often-overlooked tribes like those originally from a Digital background, such as the system architects or engineers/developers. Aside from the traditional Medical, Nursing and Allied Health tribes, there were the less common, like the Clinical Coders.

Yet they all had in common the belief in Health Informatics. That being trained or having experience across several domains meant being able to communicate and interpret. They have a shared passion for prioritising the users' needs in supporting care delivery by designing fit-for-purpose products. Not to start with a product and then shoe-horn clinicians into compromising their practice to fit the product with empty words. They want to be innovators, the creators, the change agents and help deliver better, more equitable health outcomes.

Yet, the tribes originally come from different origins and professional cultures. Words are used differently; values, priorities and professional obligations are quite different between us. This can quickly become a situation of “people separated by a common language”. The clinicians struggled to articulate in computer speak what they need. The developers and designers struggled to understand the system requirements needed to build a solution, and the engineers struggled to deliver this safely, sustainably and at scale.

The path from being an enthusiast to being a leader and then on to being a Digital Health specialist in Digital Health is not well articulated or linear. If the professional path is meandering, then the educational infrastructure underpinning the journey is disjointed. Each step for every provider is clear, but only when you are up very close and looking at one step. Passing each step does not lead to the next or even institutional relevance.

Becoming a health informaticist then is a journey from mastery of one’s own profession, before starting to understand the professional cultures of others and how each contributes to the team needed for delivering Digital Health products into the clinical frontline. One needs to be a leader from the outset, a champion to build the spaces for others to flourish.

I was left with the view that our people are our greatest asset, and Aotearoa is blessed with a pool of passionate and competent professionals seeking to deliver the change our health system needs through Health Informatics. They need to train together to get a common language. They need to work together to get a common culture and be recognised by institutions as the amazing workforce it is, made up of multi-talented individuals and local teams.

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New Zealand’s health system needs a critical mass of clinical informaticians to lift digital literacy and maturity across the system, says National’s health spokesperson Shane Reti.

Reti spoke to the 220-strong audience at the HiNZ Digital Health Leadership Summit in Wellington on May 31 where he described his background in clinical informatics.

Formerly a Northland GP, he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to Harvard, in Boston, in 2007, where he was chief operating officer and professor at the Division of Clinical Informatics.

“I'm clearly a convert to clinical informatics: that interface between clinical medicine, information technology, and business,” he said.

“We don't have anywhere enough clinical informaticians in the health system in New Zealand.”

Reti said he used the Official Information Act to get the results of the HIMSS digital maturity assessments completed at eight DHBs in 2021 and these were a “sobering reminder of the amount of work we have got to do”.

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The HIMSS assessments score hospitals and care settings on their adoption and use of electronic medical records on a scale from 0–7.

He said greater numbers of clinical informaticians might have led to different results in these assessments and the health sector needs to be at a much higher level across the board, before thinking about implementing a national Electronic Health Record (EHR).

“While it is a nice tagline and aspiration to say there should be one ubiquitous health record across the country, there is a need to first lift the baseline of digital literacy nationwide,” Reti said.

“The goal that interests me is raising IT literacy through more clinical implementations, and this aspiration will require some critical mass of clinical informaticians: I'm interested in the former and I'm prepared to pay for the latter.”

He said good implementation comes down to three things he called the three Ps – people, parts and policies.

“You need to have the health resource to be able to implement it, you need to be able to give people the tools and the equipment for what they're implementing, then you need policies to support that implementation progress,” said Reti.

“Overlaying that is political leadership: having clinical leadership and a senior sponsor is absolutely vital.”

Picture: National Party Health spokesperson, Shane Reti

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Tēnā koe, Lara!

Warm congratulations on your appointment. It is very exciting to have someone with your experience in this role. As the chair and co-chair of the Clinical Informatics Leadership Network (CiLN) Advisory Panel, we take this opportunity to offer you our support in making your new role as effective and productive as possible.

We believe this role will be critical in driving Aotearoa NZ’s journey that leverages technology and data for better and more equitable health outcomes for people and whānau while improving the workforce experience.

The Clinical Informatics Leadership Network (CiLN) is a 600 strong clinical informatician community network. The elected CiLN Advisory Panel drives the implementation of CiLN’s mission to connect the clinical informaticians of Aotearoa NZ, and collectively advocate for successful digital transformation based upon technical expertise tempered by clinical experience.

Our position is that clinical informaticians are integral to the digitisation of the health sector by leading and/or partnering with data and digital governance, procurement, design, development, change management, implementation, evaluation, maintenance, and continuous improvement. Clinical informaticians include registered, self-regulated and non-registered health professionals.

We look forward to opportunity to whananungatanga with you and Leigh, to build an effective and ongoing partnership so that the benefits of the digitised health sector are realised.

Ngā mihi
Jerome Ng (Chair) and Kate Yeo (Co Chair)
CiLN Advisory Panel

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Lara Hopley is the inaugural Chief Clinical Informatics Officer (CCIO) for Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand.

The CCIO will provide clinical direction into the development and delivery of clinical informatics strategy, products and services across the health sector.

Hopley is an anaesthetist and currently clinical advisor to digital innovations at Te Whatu Ora Waitematā. As part of the Covid-19 response she led the clinical design of the Border Clinical Management System and she was the winner of the Clinical Informatics Leadership Award in 2020.

She says she is “excited” to take on the new role and there will be a lot to do.

“By establishing this role, our leaders have endorsed the idea that we need to build bridges between informatics, clinical medicine and management,” she says.

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Hopley will continue to do one day a week of clinical anaesthesia, connecting her to the actual use of information systems within the health environment.

She highlighted how hard the interim chief data and digital Stuart Bloomfield worked to establish the role of CCIO in Te Whatu Ora.

“He has shown extraordinary skill at building partnerships between clinicians, administrators, experts at privacy and security, project managers, innovators and many others. This role is a reflection of his proficiency,” she says.

Hopley adds that the appointment also represents a strong message to health sector providers and everyone who wants the best thing for whānau.

“The way to get there is to invest in connecting teams, and in every team we need at least one person who can swim comfortably in both clinical medicine and the world of information, data and improvement,” she explains.

Read more about Lara Hopley in this profile on eHealthNews.nz.

Picture: CCIO Lara Hopley

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Tēnā koutou

Caring for clinicians supports the delivery of higher quality care.

Digital solutions which effectively address clinician’s pain points will help clinicians deliver better and higher quality care for consumers and their whānau.

The process of co-development of digital solutions with the people who use them is essential for not only developing digital solutions that are fit-for-purpose, user-friendly and intuitive but also support their meaningful use and adoption in practice.

But exactly:

• What mechanisms are currently in place to support effective and authentic co-development with clinicians and consumers and whānau?
• And given the diversity and number of clinicians– exactly whom does one partner with?

The Clinical Informatics Leadership Network (CiLN) is a 600 strong clinical informatician community network – providing a single central platofrm by which multi-disciplinary clinician engagement and feedback can be sought.

A twelve member multi-disciplinary CiLN Advisory Panel leads and champions the implementation of CiLN’s mission to connect the clinical informaticians of Aotearoa NZ, and collectively advocate for and enable successful digital transformation.

Currently and over the past quarter, the CiLN Advisory Panel are:

• Advocating the need for clinical informaticians and considering mechanisms to partner with the incoming Chief Clinical Informatics Officer (CCIO)
• Monitoring the health reforms and exploring opportunities to advance clinical informatics
• Strengthening relationships with the National Allied Health & Scientific Informatics Group (NAHSTIG) and the Nursing & Midwifery Special Interest Group (NMI-SIG)
• Exploring the professionaliation of Clinical Informaticians
• Championing for co-development of national data and digital initiatives & policies with CiLN
  

In terms of an update on the CiLN Advisory Panel itself, there has been a number of changes over the past quarter. Alex Kemp, the previous chair has stepped down but remains in the clinical informatics network. Alex has been a driving force in the CiLN community, providing leadership to a maturing network. We thank her for her efforts and wish her the very best for her future endeavours. We welcome the following people who are co-opted to the CiLN Advisory Panel to support the mahi and enable greater collaboration across related clinical informatics groups:

• Emma Collins (nurse & educator)– as Chair of NMI
• Sharon Russell (physio) – as Chair of NAHSTIG
• Greig Russell (data scientist, doctor) – for greater Medical input
• Becky George (occupational therapist) – independent member
  

The health reforms present a unique “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to create systems which enable and support better and more equitable health outcomes and whānau and workforce experiences. Our position is that clinical informaticians are integral to the digitisation of the health sector. We warmly welcome Te Whatu Ora, Te Akai Whai Ora, the Ministry of Health and other groups to further whananungatanga with the CiLN Advisory Panel to explore how we can support each other to achieve better and more equitable healthcare that work for patients and the people who care for them.

Ngā maanakitanga

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HiNZ board chair Karen Blake has been awarded the Robyn Carr Cup for 2022.

The Robyn Carr Cup for Excellence in Nursing Informatics is awarded annually at the eHealth Nursing & Midwifery (NMI) event, during Digital Health Week NZ.

The award recognises sustained support of nursing and midwifery informatics in New Zealand and acknowledges the central role nurses and midwives have had, and continue to have, in supporting the profession, each other and the wider interests of the health informatics community.

When announcing the award, HiNZ NMI executive member Emma Collins said Blake has shown steadfast commitment to fostering an interest of nurses, midwives and nursing/midwifery informatics in New Zealand and Australia.

Blake was a founding member of the HiNZ Clinical Informatics Leadership Network and was a Clinical Informatics Leadership Award finalist in 2020.

“She has led the expansion of the clinical informatics team in healthAlliance and provided the clinical lens into decision making,” Collins said.

“She has assisted in removing barriers in communication and promoted collegial relationships between management, clinical and IT people.”

Blake was a midwife in Australia and New Zealand for over 20 years and currently works as a director in the Hauora team for Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Source: HiNZ 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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A doctor who led the development of a national aeromedical electronic Clinical Record (eCR), at Northern Rescue Helicopter Limited, has won the 2022 Clinical Informatics Leadership Award.

Alana Harper is an emergency medicine specialist at Te Toka Tumai Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland and a pre-hospital & retrieval medicine doctor with Te Ratonga Wakatopa Whakaora ki Te Raki, Northern Rescue Helicopter.

She has worked tirelessly in this role to develop an electronic clinical record which allows clinical teams to capture patient data using a variety of methods, including wireless sharing of patient vital signs from critical care cardiac monitors – a first for Australasia.

This eCR connects both bases of operations within the Northern aeromedical region and later this year, will be implemented across the Central aeromedical region.

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Te Whatu Ora board chair Rob Campbell presented the trophy to Harper at Digital Health Week in Rotorua on December 6, 2022.

In its fourth year, the Clinical Informatics Leadership Award recognises the leadership, mahi and achievements of clinicians working in the field of data and digital health.

More than 1000 votes were cast to select the winner, who receives a free pass and speaking slot at Digital Health Week 2023 and $5000 from Spark Health, to fund further study or attend a conference.

A three-person judging panel; HiNZ board chair Karen Blake; Clinical Informatics Leadership Award 2020 winner Lara Hopley; and 2019 award winner Rebecca George, selected the finalists.

The judges said: “Harper demonstrates initiative, insight and leadership. We admired her persistence, consumer engagement and breadth of networking that enabled her to deliver on this work so successfully”.  

Read Alana Harper’s profile on eHealthNews.nz.

Picture: 2022 CiLN Award winner, Alana Harper with Te Whatu Ora Health NZ Board Chair, Rob Campbell



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Judges’ quote
“Bycroft's leadership and hard work will have positively impacted on literally hundreds of thousands people via the online provision of health information. Stakeholder engagement is exhausting, frustrating work, but year after year, she is dogged in her graceful determination to keep doing it. Few do it as well.”

Nominator’s quote
“Bycroft is passionate about the use of digital health to improve access, timeliness of care, shared decision-making and mana-enhancing models of care to contribute to Te Whatu Ora ‒ Health New Zealand's goal to "transform health to … address the persistent inequalities experienced by Māori, ensure greater access, experience and outcomes for those traditionally not well served by the system.”

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Profile
Janine Bycroft is the founder and chief executive for the Health Navigator Charitable Trust and the visionary behind multiple initiatives to improve long-term condition management, telehealth and digital health

She is a member of the National Telehealth Forum Leadership Group and the Whakarongorau Aotearoa /National Telehealth Service Clinical Governance Committee.

Bycroft's work to found and develop NZ's foremost national health information website is her best-known achievement. She developed the Health Navigator NZ website and Trust in response to the need for one place to find trustworthy content and support whānau and healthcare providers with 24/7 access to the right information at that moment it's needed.

Traffic to the website is now over 1.7 million pageviews per month and is the go-to digital health resource for clinicians and the NZ public

In 2016, Bycroft established the NZ Health App Library, now providing independent reviews for over 200 health and hauora apps.

Her latest national initiative is the development of quality standards and a digital health accreditation pathway.

She has fostered relationships with global leaders in digital solution assessment and activation to increase collaboration and alignment with international best practice. This led to identifying several areas not covered internationally that are important for the NZ context.

To address this gap, she recently led her team in running a series of workshops to co-design the Aotearoa Enhanced Review (AER). With expert NZ input from clinicians, data sovereignty, ethics, technology and cybersecurity to cultural advisors and whānau with lived experience, the AER development positions NZ as a world leader in cultural safety within the digital health space.

Stakeholder Engagement
Bycroft's credibility as a highly respected practising GP and knowledge of public health are key factors in her ability to understand and engage with a broad range of healthcare providers.

She often reminds groups that whānau are the largest untapped workforce. She set up the Health Consumer Advisory Service for the Ministry of Health Long-Term Conditions team to ensure a stronger voice for whānau in service design and execution.

Whether promoting the adoption of digital tools, patient portals, Open Notes or video consultations, her ability to relate to the day-to-day challenges of clinical care, the importance of integration with clinical workflow and providing practical examples of scenarios and case studies, have been key enablers for improving user uptake, understanding and participation.

Her work to create a national content hub is one of her biggest efforts to date. She has engaged with dozens of organisations to partner in an initiative to build a national health content hub and collaborative, which would act as a central digital repository for trusted, New Zealand-focused, high-quality health content and self-care resources.

Benefits from the hub will be extensive, from improved access and applicability to more equitable outcomes for Māori, Pasifika, people with disabilities and other high-needs populations, who will be prioritised for content co-creation, development and delivery.

Competence and Capability
As an advocate for collaborative care, care planning, integrated care and increased consumer participation in service design and planning, Bycroft is a regular presenter and panellist at a number of conferences and webinars, and is a regular promoter of Open Notes and telehealth.

She has helped develop modules to support health providers gain confidence delivering telehealth and was part of a group supporting Aotearoa Collaborative to develop a telehealth curriculum and online course.

For the wider public, Bycroft and the team developed a range of telehealth and Covid-19 resources for consumers and shared through the Health Navigator NZ website.

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Judge’s quote
“Through her work to develop our workforce, teaching, mentoring, research and innovations, Karen Day is ensuring the future of the profession can work in an ever changing and dynamic environment.

“With national advocacy, she is enabling visibility and promoting the health informatics workforce."

Nominator’s quote
“Karen's clinical background, coupled with her extensive academic and research background makes her an asset to the digital health sector. She continuously makes broad contributions to digital health in NZ. This leadership portfolio includes tenure on HiNZ Board, and the ACHI Council.”

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Profile
Day, in collaboration with other academics, established the first wholly online post graduate diploma in health informatics at the University of Auckland, supporting students nationally and internationally to upskill and develop their theoretical understanding, research capability and knowledge to further the profession of health informatics. She led the establishment of the first undergraduate health informatics pathway, globally.

She teaches, mentors and supports masters and PhD students in informatics, actively contributing to the growing literature reflecting emerging trends in both health and information technology

Her commitment to workforce development is evidenced through the first national census of the digital health workforce in 2018 and the publication of a co-edited book, The Health Information Workforce, Current and Future Developments. She is passionate about making this workforce visible and acknowledging their contribution to the health system.

Day joined the Clinical Informatics Leadership Network in 2019, in the inaugural advisory committee. She was the lead author for the first Clinical Informatics Position Statement, which became the foundation of CiLN, and presented this at the NI2021 (Nursing Informatics) conference.

Her second research stream is telehealth, publishing several studies on this topic. She serves on the NZ Telehealth Leadership Forum and contributed to the national telehealth survey revision in 2022.

Impact
Day is one of the few people in New Zealand to become a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Informatics (ACHI), and is one of the founding Fellows of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health: recognition of her outstanding contribution to informatics.

In 2020 she was recognised for her global contributions to digital health with a Fellowship of the International Academy of Health Science Informatics.

Day also enabled establishment of HiNZ Fellowship programme, is a Fellow of HiNZ and co-chaired the FHiNZ selection committee of 2022. Membership of the HiNZ Board (2017 – 2021) was based on her academic prowess and extensive governance experience, and she chaired the scientific stream for the annual conference.

In 2010 she co-led a telehealth project on the West Coast that resulted in implementation of a telehealth strategy for the Canterbury and West Coast region, which is now thriving, and led to student Masters research initiatives over the years that followed.

In 2015, Day led a telehealth research project with Selwyn Foundation to establish the value of nursing via telehealth. This resulted in a new company to provide telehealth to older adults.

Expertise
Day shows exemplary academic expertise in clinical informatics, via her many publications, academic profile, awards and fellowships bestowed on her, and dedication to conferences and academic journals.

She is extremely generous with her expertise, with an exceptionally high level of knowledge gained in her academic career - especially in the areas of telehealth and workforce - she mentors and supports Masters and PhD students in informatics, and continuously contributes to publications to reflect industry needs and emerging trends in both health and IT. Communication Day's multiple publications and workforce work have promoted and uplifted the value of clinical informatics nationally and internationally. She continuously makes broad contributions to digital health in NZ.

She is the associate editor for BMJ Health and Care Informatics (since 2015), co-establishing the Implementer Report to enable non-academics to report on their work, and for JMIR Nursing (2022), enabling publication of important and impactful research reports.

She has published extensively on digital health, led the development of a digital literacy survey for the Ministry of Health in 2019 and is currently advising them on a follow-up survey .

Day is enabling visibility of the health informatics workforce. This is a significant contribution to digital health.

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