13 March 2025
Richard Shelton
[FYI request #30048 email]
Tēnā koe Richard
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00079042
Thank you for your email on 12 February 2025, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora for the
following under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act):
"I am making a request under the Official Information Act 1982 regarding IT infrastructure
investment and operational efficiency within Health Al iance NZ and Te Whatu Ora,
covering Auckland, Northland, Middlemore, and Waitematâ.
I am particularly interested in how investment in IT infrastructure and IT staffing levels
affects operational costs, workforce efficiency, and patient outcomes. The key themes I
would like information on include:
A. Whether more or fewer IT staff reduce long-term operational costs for Te Whatu Ora,
considering the wider implications of underinvestment in IT support.
B.The extent to which IT spending leads to cost savings through reduced downtime,
improved efficiency for frontline healthcare staff, and fewer missed patient appointments.
C. How IT infrastructure affects human capital—specifically doctor, nurse, and
administrative workload, as well as the impact on staff retention and burnout.
If existing reports contain relevant insights, I am happy to receive copies of those instead
of raw data. I also welcome any internal business cases or cost-benefit analyses that
evaluate.
1. IT Investment vs. Long-Term Cost Savings for Te Whatu Ora
1.1 Total IT Spending and Financial Impact
1.1.1 Annual IT Expenditure and Cost Breakdown I request the total annual IT expenditure
over the past three financial years (2021–2024), including a breakdown into:
1.1.1.1 Hardware (servers, processors, networking equipment).
1.1.1.2 Software (electronic health records, decision support systems).
1.1.1.3 IT staffing (technical support, system administrators, cybersecurity specialists).
1.1.1.4 Maintenance, upgrades, and cloud computing.
1.1.2 IT Investment and Cost Reduction Modelling I request any internal reports or
modelling conducted by Te Whatu Ora that examine whether:
1.1.2.1 Higher IT investment has resulted in lower administrative costs for hospitals and
clinics.
1.1.2.2 IT-driven automation and digital transformation have reduced manual
administrative workloads.
1.1.2.3 Te Whatu Ora has used cost-benefit analysis to determine whether spending more
on IT leads to greater operational savings across multiple departments.
2. IT Staffing Levels and Operational Cost Efficiency
2.1 Impact of IT Staffing on Overall Healthcare Costs
2.1.1 IT Staffing Levels and Cost Efficiency I request information on:
2.1.1.1 The current IT workforce size at Health Al iance NZ.
2.1.1.2 Any evaluations or business cases assessing whether increasing or decreasing IT
staffing levels affects operational costs (e.g., whether a larger IT workforce improves
efficiency and reduces long-term spending on IT-related disruptions).
2.1.2 Financial Implications of IT Underinvestment If available, I request any internal
assessments of how IT underinvestment (staffing, system performance, or infrastructure
upgrades) has:
2.1.2.1 Increased system downtime and lost productivity for clinical and administrative
staff.
2.1.2.2 Led to higher costs from reactive IT issue management instead of proactive system
improvements.
2.1.2.3 Affected patient care efficiency and clinical workflow, particularly in hospitals with
high patient throughput.
3. IT Performance and its Effect on Workforce Productivity
3.1 System Load Times and Staff Productivity
3.1.1 Average Log-in and System Load Times I request data on average log-in times and
system load speeds for clinical applications (electronic health records, prescribing
platforms, patient management systems) used by:
3.1.1.1 Doctors in hospital and primary care settings.
3.1.1.2 Nurses in inpatient and outpatient settings.
3.1.1.3 Administrative staff handling patient records and bookings.
If any internal evaluations have measured the effect of slow IT performance on workforce
productivity, I would appreciate access to those findings.
3.1.2 IT Downtime and Impact on Patient Services I request data on IT system downtime
per year (total hours of outages) and
any:
3.1.2.1 Internal evaluations on the financial or operational impact of downtime (e.g., delays
in patient care, increased administrative backlog).
3.1.2.2 Reports showing whether IT infrastructure upgrades have improved system uptime
and overall hospital workflow.
4. IT-Driven Patient Engagement and Missed Appointments
4.1 Automated Appointment Reminders and Financial Impact
4.1.1 Effectiveness of IT-Enabled Reminders I request:
4.1.1.1 The annual cost of automated patient reminders (SMS, email, phone calls).
4.1.1.2 Any internal reports or evaluations on whether IT-driven reminders reduce patient
no-shows and improve scheduling efficiency.
If a cost-benefit analysis exists comparing the financial loss from missed appointments vs.
the cost of IT-enabled reminder systems, I would appreciate access to it.
5. Future IT Strategy and Workforce Planning
5.1 Strategic IT Investments and Cost Optimisation
5.1.1 Future IT Roadmap and Workforce Impact I request any strategic IT planning
documents or business cases covering the next five years (2024–2029) that outline:
5.1.1.1 Major planned IT investments for hospitals and general practice settings.
5.1.1.2 Whether these investments are projected to reduce hospital workload, improve
doctor/nurse efficiency, and lower administrative costs.
5.1.1.3 Any financial modelling comparing different levels of IT investment and their impact
on Te Whatu Ora’s long-term budget.
6. Request for Existing Reports and Analysis
6.1 If any of the requested information has already been compiled into internal reports,
cost-benefit analyses, or strategic documents, I would appreciate receiving copies or links
to those documents.
7. Scope Management and Prioritisation
7.1 If this request is too broad, I am happy for Health Al iance NZ and Te Whatu Ora to
prioritise responding to the most critical sections first, particularly those covering:
7.1.1 (1.1.1; 3.1.2.2; 3.1.2.1; 3.1.2; 2.1.2.2; 2.1.2.1; 2.1.2; 2.1.1.2; 2.1.1; 2.1.2.3; 1.1.1.3;
1.1.2.2; 1.1.2.1; 1.1.2; 1.1.2.3; 4.1.1.2; 4.1.1.1; 4.1.1; 1.1.1.1; 1.1.1.2; 2.1.1.1; 3.1.1.2;
3.1.1.1; 3.1.1; 1.1.1.4; 3.1.1.3; 5.1.1.3; 5.1.1; 5.1.1.1; 5.1.1.2; 6)
7.2 Please prioritise completing as much of this request as possible in order as per 7.1.1. If
some aspects cannot be fulfil ed within this request, kindly provide an explanation. I may
submit a independent request for the remaining information as needed."
Response
For question 1 proportion of Health New Zealand’s total budget was spent on IT since 1 July 2022
to June 2024, listed by percentage and month are publicly available at the below link.
https:/ questions.parliament.nz/writ en-questions/question/WQ_76840_2024
The remainder of your request for all information is very broad, and substantial manual collation
would be required to locate and prepare all documents within scope of your request. I should
stress that it is not simply a case of dealing with single points of your request in isolation to
complete parts until it becomes substantial; the work required to respond to it all is interdependent
and cannot be carried out in this way.
As such, I refuse your request under section 18(f) of the Act.
I have considered whether fixing a charge for the supply of the information or extending the
timeframe for response would enable Health NZ to respond. I do not consider that either option
would remove the impact that supplying the information would have on our other operations.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Health NZ may proactively
release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Danielle Coe
Manager (OIAs) – Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
