Whānau, Consumer and Clinician Digital Council

The Whānau, Consumer and Clinician Digital Council will bring together clinicians with digital expertise and people with lived experience and digital insights, ensuring a collective whole-of-system view that reflects the diverse perspectives of health service users and providers across Aotearoa.

It is an expectation that members will be recognised as leaders within their respective areas for the expertise, skills and knowledge that they bring to the Council.

The Council serves as a national advisory forum, ensuring that consumer, whānau and clinician voices inform the design and prioritisation of digital health initiatives. It aims to provide digitally literate clinical and consumer voices to the National Clinical Governance Group (NCGG) and offer clinical and consumer-grounded digital perspectives to the Technology Design Council. Its role is advisory, not decision-making, and it sits at the intersection of clinical governance and digital technology governance.

The Council will also provide advice to other clinical or digital forums on an as-needed basis where its perspectives are relevant.

The Council is positioned as a critical enabler for clinical safety, quality, and equity, reflecting the increasing centrality of digital systems in healthcare.

The Whānau, Consumer and Clinician Digital Council will be consulted in order to provide, system-wide advice on digital health matters from a whānau, clinician and consumer voice. Specifically, it will:

• provide expert advice and recommendations on digital topics raised by NCGG, TDC and other relevant forums and networks
• ensure a whole-of-system and forward-looking approach that champions Digital Services priorities, with a clear focus on safe, equitable, and effective use of data and digital technology in health service delivery
• offer advice and provide recommendations, on the design and prioritisation of Digital Services programme of work, roadmaps for health services, and National Design Unit service blueprints and roadmaps from their inception
• provide digitally literate clinical and consumer voices to the NCGG drawing on whānau, consumer and clinical insights into how digital systems impact care delivery, safety and equity
• provide a grounded whānau, consumer and clinician digital perspective to the TDC, ensuring national diversity, inclusivity, and the lived experience of communities inform technology design and investment decisions
• represent the voice of people impacted by the system, ensuring advice is grounded in real-world experience while retaining a strategic view that connects services, regions, disciplines, and levels of care.

The Whānau, Consumer and Clinician Digital Council will bring together the whānau, consumer and clinician perspective and voice to support delivering fit for purpose data and digital technologies that contribute to improved and equitable health outcomes across the motu.

The Council is accountable for its advice and recommendations to NCGG and TDC who will then make decisions as appropriate.

Members of the Council are accountable for ensuring that they raise challenges identified within their network and forums at the Council and promote the position and perspective of the Council back to their networks and forums.

WCCDC contributes to national clinical governance by informing the deliberations of NCGG and TDC, who retain formal responsibility for digital clinical safety, quality, and system oversight.

Members are accountable for:

• ensuring perspectives shared reflect broad engagement with their professional, consumer, and community networks
• promoting the Council’s positions within those networks
• supporting the national strategic direction and established digital priorities.

We acknowledge the text of Te Tiriti, including the preamble and the 3 articles, along with the Ritenga Māori declaration.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi framework — Ministry of Healthexternal link

Mana Whakahaere

Effective and appropriate stewardship or kaitiakitanga over the health and disability system. This goes beyond the management of assets or resources.

Mana motuhake

Enabling the right for Māori to be Māori (Māori self-determination); to exercise their authority over their lives, and to live on Māori terms and according to Māori philosophies, values and practices including tikanga Māori.

Mana Tangata

Achieving equity in health and disability outcomes for Māori across the life course and contributing to Māori wellness.

Mana Māori

Enabling Ritenga Māori (Māori customary rituals) which are framed by te ao Māori (the Māori world), enacted through tikanga Māori (Māori philosophy and customary practices) and encapsulated within mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).

Under our role as the Whānau, Consumer and Clinical Digital Council we will meet our obligations under Te Tiriti O Waitangi in our work through the application of the following principles.

Tino rangatiratanga

The guarantee of tino rangatiratanga provides for Māori self-determination and mana motuhake in the design, delivery, and monitoring of health and disability services.

Equity

The principle of equity requires the Crown to commit to achieving equitable health outcomes for Māori.

Active protection

The principle of active protection requires the Crown to act, to the fullest extent practicable, to achieve equitable health outcomes for Māori. This includes ensuring that it, its agents, and its Treaty partner are well informed on the extent, and nature, of both Māori health outcomes and efforts to achieve Māori health equity.

Options

The principle of options requires the Crown to provide for and properly resource kaupapa Māori health and disability services. Furthermore, the Crown is obliged to ensure that all health and disability services are provided in a culturally appropriate way that recognises and supports the expression of the Hauora Māori models of care.

Partnership

The principle of partnership requires the Crown and Māori to work in partnership in the governance, design, delivery, and monitoring of health and disability services. Māori must be co-designers, with the Crown, of the primary health system for Māori.

The Council membership will consist of (noting that a member is expected to represent more than one of these perspectives), a split between clinicians (junior and senior) and consumers that represent a range of backgrounds, disciplines, geographical locations and service locations.

The proposed membership should include those clinicians with experience, interest and acumen in digital, that retain a connection to clinical practice/service delivery.

Membership will be representative of the following.

• Māori and Pacific stakeholders and groups.
• Medical, nursing, pharmacists, allied health professions.
• Geographical spread from across the motu, including a mix of smaller districts, primary care, community care, and hospital services.
• Hauora Māori services.
• Rural and remote communities.
• Long term conditions, for example disability, mental health.
• Rainbow community.
• Clinical networks.
• Regional consumer councils or population networks.

Chair

It is expected that there will be co-chairs as agreed by the Council members.

Members

It is expected that the members will be well connected in their part(s) of the system (able to draw on their own regional and clinical networks to provide useful advice across services).

Consumers may come from local health or data, digital or IT consumer networks so that they can draw on their networks as needed. Consumers will be supported to be active members of this group as needed.

There may be a wider panel of representation (clinical and consumer) available for specific working groups or subcommittees.

Support members

This Council will require support and advice from other experts with a view of the ecosystem across the motu.

The work of the Council will be supported by a support team supplied by Digital services.

Members of WCCDC will:

• be able to articulate both the ‘ground roots’ perspective and the wider digital vision/strategy for whānau, consumer and clinicians
• meet regularly to discuss and provide advice on relevant issues
• provide a whānau, consumer and clinician perspective on data and digital, and representing the decisions of the Council regionally and locally
• actively communicate with their networks to ensure they are providing informed and considered advice on key topics across the motu, and support the strategic direction of national health services
• provide advice on projects and initiatives as required
• model the behaviour of whānau, consumer and clinician leaders
• ensure they come to each meeting fully prepared to discuss the topics on the agenda, as provided in each pack prior to the meeting
• declare any conflict of interest if an issue under consideration may directly influence their ability to participate objectively
• respect and hold in confidence individuals views and opinions expressed in meetings
• represent the collective view agreed upon at Council meetings to external audiences including the support of the prioritised Digital programme of work.

Consultation and advice

When being consulted the Council will be providing advice based on consensus.  When notable different views are held meaning consensus cannot be reached on our advice, this will be discussed with the Chief Clinical Informatics Officer or Digital Services SLT delegate.

Guests

By invitation — to be confirmed for each meeting, within the context of the agenda.

Members will be appointed for a term of 2 to 3 years to ensure both consistency and appropriate cadence of turn-over of membership, for a maximum of 2 consecutive terms.

The Council will meet monthly as required. Remote attendance will be supported for all meetings.

Reimbursement for those not employed by Health NZ (see Reimbursement Policy) will be funded through the office of the Chief Clinical Informatics Officer.

Secretariat functions will be provided by Health NZ including:

• meeting scheduling and organisation
• agenda and pre-reading in advance of every meeting
• meeting attendance and minutes
• document management
• facilitation and follow-up of an actions list
• conflict of interest register
• decisions register.

Communications support will be provided by Health NZ as needed.