Te Whatu Ora proposes to abolish one third of data, digital roles

By Liam On Dec 2, 2024

Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) proposes to let go of about a third of the positions in data and digital.

Around 653 full-time equivalent positions (excluding vacancies) in Digital Services are being considered, accounting for 33.7% of their current numbers.

That represents the largest job cuts in the services sector; the government is also proposing to cut 49 jobs at Pacific Health, 55 at the National Public Health Service and about 15 jobs at Hauora Māori Services.

THE BIG TREND

Te Whatu Ora has been working on cost savings since the start of the fiscal year. It first remembered until NZ$330 million in funding for digital health initiatives, including the Hira project, which has been suspended. It later emerged that some of the savings were used to upgrade healthcare payroll IT systems. Funding for some free telehealth services was also cut. In addition, the government wants to bring back another NZ$100 million from digital health to fund frontline services.

“Te Whatu Ora has made good progress in living within our means, but we are still spending more than we can budget,” chief executive Margie Apa said last week.

“We have taken immediate steps to stabilize our finances, including working to get the best value for the products we buy and pausing or modifying projects that may not deliver immediate benefits.”

Public Service Association, New Zealand’s largest trade union, warned against “going back to the past” with these proposed job cuts and funding recalls.

“The promise of healthcare reforms, including a modern, capable IT system that delivers accurate patient data to doctors anywhere in the country, is being undermined by these short-sighted cuts,” said Ashok Shankar, PSA leads the nation’s healthcare sector, it claimed.

Te Whatu Ora announced its plan at the end of last year east ICT expansions as the costs of maintaining more than 4,000 clinical and business system applications had increased, many of which were nearing or already reaching the end of their lives.