An extended-awaited undertaking to construct a nationwide well being IT system remains to be a great distance away, regardless of calls from clinicians that it will be a serious enchancment for the sector.

Te Whatu Ora chief govt Margie Apa stated work was underway on bringing the disparate regional well being programs collectively, however it’s a extremely advanced job.

“We need to do the work on what it would take to go from what we have today – over 6000 applications in our system – to unify that to one,” stated Apa.

“We have spent this past year in the process of discovery and due diligence of what we have actually got in the system, and we have over 1500 projects that we just need to simplify.”

“Some regions have got a clinical portal working well – better than others – and we want to make it more national and consistent.”

Apa declined to provide a set timeline, however stated one unified IT mannequin being checked out by Health NZ is the Canadian state of Alberta, which took “three to four years” to deliver collectively.

Apa stated the largest tangible enchancment of the brand new Te Whatu Ora system thus far was having the ability to put money into the workforce by pooling sources, in a method that beforehand wasn’t potential underneath the DHB mannequin.

“We’re also seeing some early signs of what bringing together those services can achieve,” stated Apa.

As an instance, she stated there are “signs of our hospital teams working together across regions”.

“We’re seeing national teams supporting cancer and cardiac services to tackle those wait times.”

She famous that 300 individuals who reside in both Christchurch or Dunedin have been capable of be seen as a substitute at Timaru Hospital.

“That would not have happened in the last environment without a lot of haggling over funding.”

In the final yr, wait lists for each surgury and first specialist appointments have elevated considerably.

Apa stated “it’s difficult to stay on top of waitlists when we have such huge workforce shortages”, saying many working within the sector are sending issues on that up the chain.

Q+A is public curiosity journalism funded by NZ on Air