National Information Clinical Leadership Group
One of the key challenges facing the New Zealand health sector is how to advance the development and use of clinical information systems on a national basis consistently.
The Ministerial Review Group Report calls for "a higher level of 'strategic leadership and ownership' from clinicians, managers and governors of IT projects." Furthermore it states that: "There is a tendency to ... look for IT solutions without getting the fundamentals right, like looking at standardising clinical process and assessing the readiness for changes in behaviour necessary to make the systems work effectively."[1]
The National Information Clinical Leadership Group, (previously known as the Clinical Leadership Group, which was established in September 2009), recognises that clinical leadership is required at a national level for 'transfer of care', which translates into three current areas:
- e-referrals
- e-discharges
- GP2GP transfer[2]
The National Information Clinical Leadership Group comprises nominations from a variety of professional bodies and colleges providing leadership and support for clinicians in New Zealand.
With the creation of the National Health Board (NHB) and specifically the National Health IT Board, the National Information Clinical Leadership Group's role has extended to providing clinical leadership input to the National Health IT Plan. The National Information Clinical Leadership Group will engage on a wide range of clinical process and information solutions covering:
- clinical decision support
- safe medications management
- safe sharing of information
- transfer of care.
In the future, the National Information Clinical Leadership Group will seek 'shared care solutions' supporting multi-disciplined clinical engagement with patients.
[1] Annex 3, Section 3, Information Technology.
[2] This project already has an established Steering Group with primary care representation.
