Electronic-prescribing oversight team keep jobs amid Te Whatu Ora cuts

The team responsible for overseeing the New Zealand electronic prescribing service will not be made redundant, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has confirmed.

As reported by Pharmacy Today in February, pharmacists were concerned plans by Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora to cut the two permanent staff members responsible for overseeing the electronic prescribing service (NZePS) and replace them with contractors would have serious detrimental impacts.

Pharmacy Guild senior advisory pharmacist Martin Lowis said at the time removing the staff members with specialised knowledge risked the stability of the NZePS and would leave pharmacists without technical support when issues with the system occur.

But Te Whatu Ora acting chief information technology officer Sonny Taite confirms that the agency has since decided to retain the two roles in the NZePS clinical product and change manager team.

“Health New Zealand’s focus and commitment to pharmacy services, including the NZ Electronic Prescribing Service (NZePS) remains strong and will continue,” Mr Taite says in an emailed statement.

Mr Lowis says the guild is pleased to hear the staff members will keep their jobs and says it will be good to retain some stability and keep dealing with the same people.

The redundancies were considered as part of a proposal to lay off 47 per cent of Te Whatu Ora data and digital staff, or 653 full-time-equivalent positions, as part of its ongoing attempt to reduce spending by up to $2 billion.

After this was challenged in court by the Public Service Association, Te Whatu Ora settled the case and agreed to preserve 175 of the roles it was planning to cut.

In total, 1815 current data and digital roles are affected, including:

• 758 vacant roles that have been disestablished.
• 447 roles have been disestablished with redeployment offers for staff in these roles.
• The remaining 610 roles are disestablished, and staff in these roles have an opportunity to participate in an expression-of-interest process for new roles, of which there are 651 available.