Information – the key to New Zealand's health agenda

Media Release

May 26 2004

Information – the key to New Zealand's health agenda

The impacts of new information management technologies on workforce development, primary care and population-based health within the health sector will be key themes at the Health Informatics New Zealand conference in Wellington in July.

The "Towards a Healthy Nation" conference will be opened by the Minister of Health, the Hon Annette King, and is being hosted by the New Zealand Health Information Service over July 27-29.

Over 300 delegates are expected to attend the three-day conference and exhibition, to be held at the Wellington Convention Centre. Delegates will be informed by an interesting array of speakers aiming to increase sector knowledge around information and information technologies as an essential component of health care in New Zealand.

Keynote speaker Mike Rillstone, Ministry of Health Group Manager for the New Zealand Health Information Service will outline a direction of how Information Management Technologies will support population-based care.

"This is an important event for all stakeholders who have an interest health IT, the focus is firmly fixed on collaboration and connectivity, and on the need to develop a service built around the needs of the patient," he says.

"Information-enabled health services can streamline workflow, speed up and improve the delivery of patient care, reduce errors and use resources more effectively, but it cannot do these things alone. Buy-in from clinicians and administrators will be a critical part of the equation"

Pre-conference workshops on Tuesday, July 27, include a session provided by Women in Technology titled ‘Do you have the right stuff for an IT career’, where participants are encouraged to explore their existing skills and their ability to transfer those skills into health Information management.

Also on July 27 will be a satellite link-up to a health informatics conference occurring simultaneously in Australia. IMIA President-elect Nancy Lorenzi will deliver a keynote presentation titled 'IT and Change Management in Health’, via the satellite link.

Other speakers will address issues such as privacy and security, the transferal of clinical information from general practice to the new Primary Health Organisations and the implications of clinical performance indicators.

The joint Ministry of Health and HINZ ‘Sharing Excellence in Health and Disability Information Management’ awards 2004 finalists will be announced at the conference opening Cocktail Party.

District Health Board Chief Information Officers will have their own forum for discussing how changes are best implemented within their organisations.

Further information and registration is available through the website at www.hinz.org.nz.