Health Information Strategy for New Zealand 2005

Health Information Strategy for New Zealand 2005

HP 4155
Date of publication: August 2005

The Health Information Strategy for New Zealand (HIS-NZ) 2005, released by the Minister of Health in August 2005, was developed by the Health Information Strategy Steering Committee in consultation with the health and disability sector.

The Strategy builds on previous national health information strategies and initiatives, including the 1996 Health Information Strategy for the Year 2000 and the WAVE Report.

The Strategy identifies the information building blocks that need to be in place to create more effective and efficient working solutions for the health and disability sector, and action zones where the sector needs to focus on initiatives and investment. The Strategy provides a direction and an impetus for the health and disability sector to improve information management and the sharing of information, to underpin better health and disability outcomes for New Zealanders.

Executive Summary

What challenges are we facing?
Most developed nations are finding that the level of demand for health care continues to increase while at the same time the mix of services is changing. Often, new services involve more complex technologies and tend to be more expensive.

There is an increasing number of options for addressing conditions, including pharmaceuticals and surgery. Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable and living longer, and advances in medicine mean more diseases can now be treated. All of this further increases the demand for our limited health and disability resources.

New Zealand too faces significant pressures to provide more and better health care delivery. We have:

an ageing population, which will increase the pressure on our health sector
rising incidences of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease
the re-emergence of some diseases
the emergence of new infectious diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
new technologies that are making more effective treatments available, often at higher prices.

Spending on health care in developed countries ranges from 7 to 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product and is threatening to climb still further. New Zealand does not have the resources to continuously increase spending on health care delivery, and we therefore have to focus on managing with limited budgets.

Like other developed nations, we have adopted a strategy of focusing on population health, wellness and prevention. In particular we have chosen to focus on primary care, to reduce the incident rate of serious illness and demand on secondary care services. By focusing on primary care, we can catch disease processes earlier, as well as target the most relevant population groups more effectively. New technologies and approaches are also enabling conditions that previously required a hospital setting to now be managed in a primary care setting.

Given these challenges, we need to target and prioritise our investments in health and disability services so that the limited resources we have are able to maximise the health and participation outcomes of all New Zealanders.

Document availability

You can download the full text of this report below in PDF format or read the document online. This publication is also available in hard copy from Wickliffe. You can order a copy by emailing moh@wickliffe.co.nz or calling 04 496 2277 quoting HP number 4155. Please let us know your name, your physical address and how many copies you would like.

Health Information Strategy for New Zealand 2005 (PDF, 1.15 MB)

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Related Information

New Zealand Health Strategy

New Zealand Disability Strategy