Hundreds of jobs will be lost, and critics say the cuts threaten patient care. Photo: RNZ
Health New Zealand has confirmed it will slash hundreds of IT jobs - about a third of all roles.
Consultation on its proposal has finished, with the final cuts announced today.
The health agency said 1815 roles had been disestablished, although that did not reflect the number of people who would lose their jobs.
That was because hundreds of the roles were already vacant, some workers would be redeployed, and others would have the chance to reapply for 651 new roles that were being created.
Before cuts began, there were more than 2000 data and digital roles at Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora.
The agency's acting chief information technology officer Sonny Taite said 1460 had been retained. That was 175 more than the initial proposal after negotiations with the PSA union.
PSA head Fleur Fitzsimons said patient safety and the security of sensitive health information was still at risk.
"These cuts are dangerous - they threaten patient care and ignore the risks of sensitive patient information falling prey to cyber-attacks," she said.
But Taite said the changes would help the agency be more efficient and sustainable.
"The new operating model will see a nationally led digital services team, coordinated regionally, with local delivery supporting clinicians and patients at the front-line," he said.
"We currently have more roles available in the digital team than people, and we are committed to enabling as many staff as possible to be retained or redeployed into roles in this team and elsewhere in the organisation," he said.
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