4 minute read
Health It – Time For “Patient Power”
CARE
Health It – Time For “Patient Power”
Our ageing population, more than any other group, is suffering from the failure of our health sector to capture the benefits of digital technology.
ERNIE NEWMAN Convenor of the TUANZ Digital Health Consumer Advocacy Group
T underpins every facet of modern society. No sector can be more efficient than its underlying IT infrastructure. Most sectors have got it right. Health? Not so. Misdirected and inadequate investment, absence of a whole-of-system approach, eternal band-aiding, and weak political leadership for a decade or more have left an antiquated, fragmented IT infrastructure unfit for purpose. Bringing the entire health system down with it.
Meanwhile, medical advances have delivered enormous new opportunities to give people longer, healthier lives. However, with those opportunities come costly community expectations. If IT in health had kept pace with that in banking, education, travel, government services and the like, it would be key to delivering efficiencies that offset some of that cost.
Much more efficient use of clinical resources, especially greater patient self-management enabled by information, could be expected. Older generations would benefit.
Health IT has failed to deliver. True leadership has been missing at crucial moments. In 2009 the government of the day promised ubiquitous “patient portals” with our complete health history centralised and accessible to every New Zealander by 2014.
It failed to materialise. Sure, some of us have a partial portal – I can get my test results online but only at the GP level, and I used to be able to make an appointment online until this service was withdrawn “due to Covid”.
But I can’t get my hospital discharges or my GP’s clinical notes. Even my changed address details don’t move around across the system. The kind of information “one-stop shop” we have taken for granted from banks, airlines and government agencies for decades remains elusive in health. There seems to be no plan to achieve it.
“Telehealth” – the quaint term health uses for consultations by Zoom – is progressing, but its painfully slow compared to the way we use video routinely in our daily lives. Think about kids’ education, or working from home. Imagine the benefits to retirement village residents if every village had a kiosk where they could make a video call with their GP, specialist or hospital. Why should that not be just as routine as a traditional in-person consultation or phone call?
Other examples of lost opportunities and inefficiencies abound. RNZ recently revealed that radiologists in Central Region are warning that “dysfunctional IT systems are losing information, failing to link vital reports together or logjammed, and some staff are so jaded that they are now resisting upgrades - because these have never
worked before”. This occurs “frequently around the region” and is “life-threatening.”
Seriously! In a supposedly first-world country’s health system in 2022 – two decades into the information age.
When industry structure fails to meet the community’s needs, it’s time for the government to step in. Then if the government fails, it’s time for the ultimate customers – the public – to stamp our feet. That’s the point our health system has reached concerning the use of IT.
That’s why the Tech Users Association – TUANZ – has stepped in by launching a new Digital Health Consumer Advocacy Group. It’s completely independent of the government, guided by a dozen interested individuals within the broad TUANZ constituency. They’re customers on the demand side of the health system – not clinicians, IT specialists or other vested interests on the supply side.
This Group will work actively with the sector, having already forged links with several key influencers and groups. When officials, Ministers or clinicians pour cold water, we will challenge them. We will increase public awareness of the lost opportunities and the solutions. We will be collaborative but outspoken. Customers have a valid perspective to contribute.
Our health IT system cannot be allowed to go round and round in unproductive circles for a moment longer. Consumer power must be introduced to the mix, and we look forward to constructive engagement.
NUTRI ZING DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
100% Natural Dietary Supplements
Our range of supplements promote bone density, joint mobility and support the immune system. We believe that enhanced health should be simple and natural. You can be confident that Nutri Zing fuels your body with the best ingredients Mother Nature has to offer.
Phone 03 343 0587 Email nutrizing@unitedfisheries.co.nz Physical store: Ground floor, 50 Parkhouse Road Wigram, Christchurch
