2 weeks Ago By Cecilia Robinson
For years, successive health ministers have underestimated the scale of New Zealand’s outdated digital health infrastructure. It’s often not until the end of a minister’s term that the true fragmentation becomes apparent. That’s why it’s encouraging to see this issue finally receiving the urgent attention it deserves, kickstarted by new Health Minister Simeon Brown.
Over the past five years, digital health strategy has felt like a game of ping-pong: shifting priorities, rebrands and stop-start initiatives have left the sector uncertain about where to invest or how to plan. What’s needed now is a clear, consistent, long-term digital roadmap that gives clinicians, providers, innovators and vendors the confidence to build for the future, not just respond to the present. Encouragingly, that now appears to be under way.
Because the reality is this: our digital infrastructure is in crisis. People often reference the leaking pipes at Middlemore, but if that’s the state of our physical plumbing, our digital systems are even worse. Think of a hospital with an electrical system short-circuiting across departments, dangerous, dysfunctional and long overdue for repair.
Thousands of applications don’t talk to each other and many are so old they’re no longer supported. This isn’t a foundation for the future, it’s digital quicksand..
