I recall the CIOs from all the DHBs getting together regularly several years ago; I think that this all got hoovered up with the consolidation into Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.
I’ve been talking to a couple of health CIO types in the private sector recently, and they expressed a desire to connect with colleagues in similar positions.
In the UK, the Health CIOs community is quite healthy, and is anchored in the Digital Health Networks (which is where the eHealth Forum was birthed):
Is there currently any other forum (online or in person) here in NZ for health CIOs? Should we seek to set something up?
I know that GPNZ convene a PHO CIO forum and they are fairly well connected with HealthNZ, and there is also some DHA facilitated engagement.
From memory the NHS forum grew from the CCIO network first, rather than from the CIOs, and that is a good fit with this group.
The difference we have in NZ is one HealthNZ now (rather than multiple Trusts/DHBs) so the engagement would be predominately with private sector NGOs? Many already have contact into HNZ. There could still be value in a forum and potentially a role that HiNZ could help facilitate.
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@NathanK
From an Orion Health perspective, we would be supportive of enabling this in a practical way, including hosting in Auckland and Christchurch if that helps get it started.
Why does the CIO Forum have to consist only of those with CIO in their job title? Wouldn’t this forum be a good place to include the next generation of leaders? There is a dearth of research on health leadership competencies (according to one of my PhD students) and this kind of gathering is a good place for the next level of leaders to learn skills and competencies in the interest of continuity and addressing some leadership challenges.
Agree, also due to the typical size of New Zealand orgs having CIO only in the forum, would miss input from organisations like ours that may not have a CIO role, or those that utilise vCIO capabilities. From the initial post this seems more about getting senior IT leaders together from across private and public to align strategy.
100% agree you need latitude to target the right audience incl the next generation coming through yet to attain CxO ‘status’. With the ‘trend’ to Chief Digital Officers etc and noting that HNZ now doesn’t have CIOs (Darren as CITO - acting still, and just 4 regional Digital Directors who were previously the regional Regional Digital Leads) the forum needs a wider scope to encourage participation for appropriate present and future digital leaders. My 2c worth .
How about a HiNZ/DHA SIG for this purpose - both organisations have the private sector already engaged and the relationships with the senior HNZ team to pull this together?
Hi team, as the CIO / CEO / CTO / CDO / CFO of my own company - I’ve sat in many Health Management conferences and rattled cages - but don’t feel heard or seen in the system at all. (Admittedly winning the competitions at a number of those events has at least had my name on the screen).
Those of us in smaller businesses that ‘Make IT Work’ - are the core behind the country running, most GP practices / radiology companies / Physios etc are not supported by the giant back end systems like Orion or Datacom, so why are we asking the giants for their input and leaving those making systems work without the insane budgets currently thrown around.
Both HiNZ and DHA are connectors cross sector with different purposes but overlap where we collaborate, or support each other. HiNZ purpose is to connect to enable change to happen, so we are happy to enable facilitation of CIOs coming together, and advertise this across our wide health sector network. @stella and I can work out what partnership on this looks like depending on what the group decides it’s purpose is, but we would need a CIO to lead on the structure and ownership of this in terms of content and making sure this is more than just 1 meeting. @tomv Orion is a great location and that’s a wonderful offer! @stella and I will have a chat and @darren.douglass we will connect with you as first steps to see how this might take shape. For anyone looking for wider leadership opportunities, I thoroughly encourage you to see the impressive programme that @stella and @RMcBeth have put together for the DHA/HiNZ May leadership forum Digital Health Leadership Forum 2026 | DHA
Hi all - an update from us at HiNZ. As the neutral trusted community for digital health, we would be happy to enable something that is shaped by you. For HiNZ to support this the event practically would need to align with HiNZ kauapa - involving the whole digital health community - from healthcare providers across the sector to educators and researchers, to innovation and industry, and being a neutral place to connect - leaving agendas at the door and finding shared purpose. Our expertise is connecting people in a neutral space - the content that is most relevant to the group and the action taken from this would rely on people like @NualaFitz to offer their time and knowledge to progress. I am more than happy to be contacted at ceo@hinz.org.nz if there is enough interest to take this further.
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