10 Years of Digital Health Progress in New Zealand: Lessons from the South Island PAS
By Niru Rajakumar, CEO, McCrae Tech Hospitals
Ten years ago, a small team of leaders in Canterbury made a decision that would reshape the future of digital healthcare across New Zealand’s South Island. Rather than patch up existing systems, they chose to invest in something foundational. A single, regional-wide Patient Administration System (PAS) designed to support coordinated, long-term care across an entire region.
At the time, it was an ambitious call. The region was still recovering from the Canterbury earthquakes. Health services were under pressure, digital fragmentation was the norm, and long-term planning was difficult. But even in that environment, a group of people committed to a bold idea: a unified digital infrastructure that could grow with the needs of patients and providers.
This year, that long-term commitment reached a major milestone. With the final go-live on the West Coast, the South Island is now running on a single South Island Patient Information Care System (SI PICS) supporting care for over 1.2 million people across five districts. The system brings together patient information, waitlists, resource planning and administrative processes into one connected platform.
It hasn’t been fast, and it hasn’t always been easy.
Progress, not headlines
The rollout of SI PICS across such a diverse and geographically dispersed region meant navigating a wide range of legacy systems, different data structures and quality standards, operational practices and varied local needs. This required close collaboration across the board from local IT teams to administrators, clinicians, from public sector leaders to private partners.
Rather than a single big-bang launch, the programme was delivered in stages. Go-lives were staggered. Training was localised. Governance was clear. And while the public conversation often moved on to the next new thing, the teams involved in SI PICS kept going.
Their work, often done quietly and behind the scenes, has laid the foundation for something meaningful: a health system that can share information more easily, coordinate care across districts, and respond more effectively to patient needs.
What the PAS enables today
With the final district on the West Coast now live, the South Island has become the first region in Aotearoa to operate on a single administrative system for hospital care. That means:
Clinicians can access a patient’s full history, no matter which hospital they present to.
Surgical teams can coordinate waitlists across districts, reducing duplication and speeding up care.
Operational staff can manage beds and resources regionally, not just locally.
That looks like more coordinated care, smarter resource use, and better outcomes, not just for one hospital, but for an entire region.
Building for interoperability and what comes next
SI PICS wasn’t designed as a one-off solution. It was built with interoperability and future-readiness in mind, already connecting with national services like the NHI and positioned to integrate with national platforms as Health New Zealand’s digital ecosystem evolves.
We’ve taken a standards-based approach, using repeatable patterns to make future integrations easier. That matters because real digital health progress depends on consistency, not just in systems but in mindset.
Already, the system is supporting more joined-up care. Waitlist sharing is helping surgical teams across regions reduce duplication and manage demand. Clinicians now have access to a patient’s history across all hospitals in the South Island, making decisions easier and faster. Operational staff are using shared dashboards to better manage beds, flow, and resources.
A quiet success story, with a message for the North Island
There’s a reason health leaders across Southeast Asia and Oceania are looking at New Zealand with interest. The South Island’s journey proves that it’s possible to modernise, at scale, in a public health system, without compromising care, context, or clinical trust.
To the North Island, we say: it’s time to take the leap.
We’ve shown that steady, collaborative progress can deliver real outcomes. That long-term digital infrastructure can unlock clinical coordination. That building for interoperability pays off. And more importantly, we’ve shown that it’s possible to do all this right here in Aotearoa.
A local story with broader lessons
There’s something to be said for long-term delivery. For partnerships that stick. For building systems that do their job without drawing attention to themselves.
In Southeast Asia, where health systems are modernising rapidly, we’re seeing growing interest in approaches that focus on digital infrastructure, not just apps. Many leaders are asking how they can build for scale, for clinical complexity, and for the future, without losing sight of the patient.
The experience of SI PICS shows that this can be done. Not by rushing, but by investing steadily in the right things: leadership, governance, interoperability, adaptability, local knowledge, and trusted relationships.
A foundation worth building on
The next decade of healthcare will depend on how well we connect our systems to be AI-ready, and how thoughtfully we support the people using them.
If the South Island’s experience proves anything, it’s that real change is possible with sustained effort and shared commitment. That long-term investment pays off. And that progress, even when it’s quiet, can be powerful.
FAQs: SI PICS and the South Island PAS
What is SI PICS?
A regional PAS that unifies patient, clinical, and operational hospital data across all South Island districts.
How many people does it support?
Over 1.2 million New Zealanders across five health districts.
What’s the impact?
Smarter coordination of care, reduced duplication, better patient flow, and region-wide clinical access.
What’s the opportunity for Te Ika a Maui, the North Island?
To learn from this decade-long investment, and take the next step toward national-scale coordination.
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