The five-year strategy will enable the delivery of improved healthcare outcomes and will be driven by the vision for the health and wellness of the MidCentral population.
The
MDHB Digital Health Strategy, Te Awa, outlines how digital services will enable the DHB to achieve the organizational vision of Quality Living, Healthy Lives and Well Communities across the MidCentral District (Horowhenua, Tararua, Palmerston North, Manawatū, and Ōtaki).
Te Awa is a living document; as new demands emerge and new technologies surface; visions and strategies will change, however, the health and wellness of the MidCentral population will remain at the fore. The vision and strategy have been collectively endorsed by the MidCentral Board, Central PHO, Manawhenua Hauora, the Clinical and Consumer Councils.
What is Digital Health?
“Digital health is the use of digital technologies and accessible data, alongside the associated cultural change it induces, to help New Zealanders manage their health and wellbeing transforming the nature of healthcare delivery” – Ministry of Health.
Objectives and guiding principles of Te Awa
Te Awa Guiding principles
Te Awa is guided by the principles of Mā te Iwi – People-powered; Rohe Kotahi – One District; Reo Kotahi – Information Sharing and Kaitiaki – Being a Good Digital Health Steward.
Mā te Iwi – People-powered
This requires us to put people and whānau at the centre of everything we do. Utilising innovation to encourage people and whānau to self-manage their care.
Rohe Kotahi – One District
This involves all health organisations working together to optimise resources hile utilising collective analysis and decision-making avenues to support our shared populations.
Reo Kotahi – Information Sharing
This requires health organisations to share relevant health and wellness information with consumers and partners while ensuring health workforces have the information they need to provide timely and effective care.
Kaitiaki – Being a Good Digital Health Steward
This requires increased collaboration with partners to execute Te Awa effectively as well as keeping up-to-date with modern standards, living within our means, sharing our enterprise architecture and leveraging on the capability of all digital partners.
Te Awa Objectives
The objectives of Te Awa, our digital strategy, are to;
Digitise our consumers, families and whānau health experiences
Improve access to information by making it more convenient and easier to navigate, therefore allowing for greater involvement from people and whānau in their own wellness and care.
Digitise our end-to-end processes
Create smoother, safer and more coordinated wellness journeys between services and across health organisations in our district to optimise consumer experiences.
Make digital, data-enabled decisions
Improve health outcomes and safety by using data for better insights, real-time decision making, risk analysis and population planning. Better analysis of wellness outcomes to improve healthcare pathways, performance and reporting.
Build interconnected communication and collaboration
Provide a greater level of communication, coordination and teamwork between all healthcare stakeholders to improve the consumer experience.
Develop inclusive information stewardship and management
Ensure there are quality and trustworthy information for all stakeholders with timely, safe and appropriate access to knowledge and information.
Provide stable, secure, responsive and sustainable ICT services
Co-investment in innovation and emerging technologies by stakeholders to ensure integrity, continuity and performance of our systems.
Developing Te Awa
Throughout 2018, MidCentral DHB, along with its health partners in the district, formulated the first district wide digital strategy in New Zealand.
A crucial part of Te Awa’s formation was engaging with stakeholders throughout the district to support the development of the strategy. This three-month engagement process included:
- A regional hui
- Locality-based drop-in sessions throughout the region
- Attendance at Governance forums
- Interviews with key stakeholders
- Clinical and Consumer Council engagement
During this engagement process, we sought feedback on a wide range of topics, including consumers’ digital health needs, the current state of digital health and MidCentral’s Vision and Strategy. An overview of this engagement process is provided within Te Awa. Thank you to all who assisted us with this process.
Document Format
Most documents are available in Acrobat (PDF) format. Some documents are also available in other formats (doc, xls, html etc.) or as a printed version (hard copy). Please note, due to cost, a different format or printed version may not be available.
To request a different format or printed version, please contact the Te Whatu Ora Health NZ - MidCentral Communications Unit.