By Lee Scanlon of 
Health NZ has embarked on a series of job cuts. Photo: RNZ
Patients will die.
That's the warning from a West Coast IT worker as Health New Zealand (HNZ) aims to slash its data and digital staff.
HNZ has proposed laying off 47 percent of IT staff nationwide. But the West Coast faces a worse scenario - HNZ has told nine of its 13 Coast IT workers their jobs are on the line.
Two of those facing redundancy, both Public Service Association (PSA) members, spoke to The News on condition of anonymity. Anne* said patients would die if the staff cuts went ahead.
"This is going to be a train wreck. This is going to be a disaster. There will be deaths because of this," she said.
IT was essential to modern medical care, but HNZ had made an artificial distinction between frontline and backroom workers, Anne said.
"Every nurse touches a keyboard during their day's work. Every nurse looks at a monitor and looks at patient results. Every doctor, every GP, every surgeon… it's impossible to do this without IT, you can't just do this on paper, it's not feasible."
Some of the Coasters facing redundancy were responsible for physically fixing things, she said.
Their responsibilities included maintaining HNZ's IT at Haast - a five-hour drive from Greymouth. "Can you imagine if someone had to drive from Christchurch or they had to drive from Nelson?"
Anne said the staff reductions were being described as moving to a "self-service model".
"Which means, that if something goes wrong (with IT) they expect the doctor to look it up for themselves and fix it themselves… This is absolutely ludicrous and laughable."
For example, a West Coast doctor who wanted to work remotely had looked up a document on how to connect and followed the instructions, she said. But the document was years out of date and cited technology no longer used on the Coast.
"So he couldn't connect and he couldn't work. That scenario is going to happen everywhere, all the time.
"There's not going to be an on-call person. There's not going to be a help desk who knows the particulars of West Coast connectivity."
Anne described the government's claims of "living within our means" as "flim-flam".
"This is hiding the terrible nature of these cuts and the fact that they will hurt people - patients… But management are implementing it anyway because they've been told by the government they have to cut costs."
IT workers were angry and frustrated that senior leaders had not taken on board their warnings about patient safety.
"No matter how much we explain 'this is going to hurt' they're going to do it. They might rearrange one or two chairs on the Titanic, but the thing's going down…
"They're trying to justify themselves by saying 'this is how it will all work'. And it won't."
No senior leaders had lost their jobs but two had resigned because they didn't want to be associated with the fallout from the cuts, she said.
"The rest of them should (resign), but they want to keep their salaries."
HNZ's acting chief information technology officer, Darren Douglass, told a national virtual meeting of IT workers on Monday: "This is absolutely not about doing more with less. These cuts mean that we will deliver less. What we want to do is make sure we're delivering less in the areas that matter least."
Regional teams are part of the plan. Anne is unimpressed.
"We're already hitting problems where the support team in Christchurch don't understand how the West Coast works." Every region had different IT systems, she said.
The cuts were being made by people who did not understand the West Coast health environment. An HNZ senior leadership team sent to talk to the West Coast workers had had no idea HNZ operated GP practices on the Coast.
Anne urged people to put pressure on the government. "Talk to the media, yell about it, start petitions, have protests, get stuff out there in the public eye so people understand what we're going to lose…
"If the Coast wants to just sleepwalk into losing all their health care and having to have private insurance and everything else, then do nothing."
Anne said she and her partner loved the Coast lifestyle, but they would probably have to leave Greymouth if she couldn't find another job.
Both Anne and another West Coast IT worker, William* said Coast IT staff were already overworked.
"I'm already working far beyond my limits - all of us are," William said.
"We don't work in health care for an easy job. We don't work there because we're trying to make a lot of money because we'd make a lot more money privately. We're already often working far beyond what we're supposed to, to make sure people are looked after…
"Halving the amount of staff around the country to try and save a little money is only going to make those conditions drastically worse."
Like Anne, William is most worried about the impact on patients.
"My concerns aren't for my job, they're for what the effects will be for our most vulnerable...If we lose any more resources and the knowledge that's already there, it's going to be very difficult for us to maintain these systems and allow doctors and nurses and health professionals to access the information they need to provide the best possible care."
The workers have been told final decisions on their jobs will be made at the end of January.
William said he and his partner, a medical professional, would probably have to leave Greymouth.
Acting chief information technology officer, Darren Douglass, said HNZ's consultation documents were only proposals.
"We recognise that digital services is a key enabler for achieving better health outcomes for New Zealanders. Our focus and commitment in this area will continue.
"We are asking for feedback, including on perceived impacts on services, from staff and unions on our proposals. Feedback will be carefully considered before any final decisions are made."
Mr Douglass said HNZ would prioritise continuity and timely access to critical clinical information systems as part of its decision making.
"While the consultation process is ongoing, we are required to respect the privacy of our staff, and we are not in a position to provide specific details."
The PSA said the government was putting patients' lives at risk by cutting 1120 full-time IT roles nationwide to save $100 million a year.
It said the government had been warned that IT systems were 'fragile and fragmented' and billions needed to be invested, but 136 applications to fix these problems had now been stopped or deferred.
*Not their real names.
