Working together on the Hospital Medical Devices Programme

“Since the creation of Te Whatu Ora, it’s become increasingly obvious that we can achieve even more by working together," says Director Medical Devices, Catherine Epps.

“We’re both national entities now. It’s important that we utilise the skills of our people, and the opportunity of working more closely to improve health outcomes. We need to identify how our work improves theirs and vice versa.”

To increase what Pharmac can deliver, Te Whatu Ora has also agreed to fund parts of the Hospital Medical Devices programme.

“Te Whatu Ora has given Pharmac some seed funding to help us further develop parts of the programme. With the funding, we can now pursue these parts at a faster rate than we’ve previously been able to.”

This work includes:

• adapting the national Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for hospital medical devices
• improving the technology-based contract management systems
• establishing an advisory and support network
• increasing clinical expertise to support hospital medical device governance and decision-making.

Te Whatu Ora has also agreed to second staff to Pharmac to help with change management and implementation.

“As part of this agreement, Te Whatu Ora has committed to working with us more closely, including sharing skills with secondments or supporting each other with the work of our respective teams,” says Epps.

This agreement marks an important step in the Hospital Medical Devices programme.

“We’re making sure that the work we’re doing is best suited, and most useful for, patients, whānau, hospitals, and people who work with devices.”

“It reiterates the importance of Pharmac and Te Whatu Ora being part of one health and disability system. That we’re all working towards the same thing, to protect, promote, and improve the health of all New Zealanders,” says Epps.