NZ redirects digital health funds to salary upgrade
New Zealand’s unused emergency funds for digital health projects have been diverted to solve healthcare problems payroll systems.
Based on recently released government documents, the government decided early this year to tap into emergency funds under the ‘Data and Digital Foundations and Innovation’ initiative to finance the ‘stabilization of the schedule according to salaries’.
“(S)tabilisation of payroll systems has emerged as a risk requiring immediate investment. Investment may be required to address payroll systems reaching end-of-life within the next 18 months,” the report said.
THE BIGGER CONTEXT
Te Whatu Ora is currently focused on tackling incorrect leave payments to current and former employees, dating back to 2010. The government agency, set up in 2022 to replace the previous 20 district health boards that made up the country’s health system, said it inherited payroll systems that were “set up differently with different practices and local arrangements.” None of them were also compliant with the Holidays Act.
“In addition, there are parts of the country that are not only not compliant but also need immediate remediation to ensure they are functioning again while a medium-term solution is found.”
Te Whatu Ora is now limiting IT expansions and moving to more robust platforms, as it found that more than 4,000 clinical and business system applications across the health system have reached or are reaching end-of-life and have accumulated high levels of technical debt.
In the 2024 budget, announced in June, NZ$330 million ($203 million) that had been earmarked for the “Data and Digital Foundations and Innovation” and “Data and Digital Infrastructure and Capability – Enabling Health System Transformation” initiatives has been returned to the government’s coffers as savings. Both initiatives, which include the national health information project Hira, are aimed at delivering digital health reforms.
Financing for Free telecare was also cut from the 2024 budget, as it became clear that the demand for remote care was unsustainable and patients preferred to receive care in person rather than online or remotely.