Source: Radio New Zealand
Hospitals in Auckland and Northland were impacted by the outage. (File photo) 123rf.com
A massive IT outage at hospitals in Auckland and Northland is being blamed on cuts to Health NZ’s digital team, by a union representing public service workers.
The Public Service Association (PSA), said its members were forced to use pen and paper during a computer systems outage lasting more than twelve hours from Wednesday night to Thursday morning.
It said the outage had prevented clinicians from accessing patient information, and blocked communications.
It comes less than a month after online portal Manage My Health was hacked and patient data held ransom.
“The government has to take the blame for this – these failures are a direct result of its short-sighted decision to underfund and cut roles at Health NZ’s digital services team,” PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
“The government oversaw the loss of the very experts who maintain and upgrade these critical systems, and now we’re seeing the predictable consequences – hospitals forced onto whiteboards and paper forms while trying to deliver modern healthcare.”
Fitzsimons called for the government to immediately review funding for digital health services and “admit its mistakes in cutting digital services expertise.”
RNZ approached Health NZ and the Ministry of Health for comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
