NZ Unveils Digital Security Action Plan And More Digital Health Briefs

The organisation is assessing six patient portals, including Manage My Health, while developing a third-party risk management framework and incident response guide.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has released a 19-priority digital security action plan focused on strengthening cybersecurity, privacy, and third-party risk management across the country’s health system following reviews into the Manage My Health data breach.

The organisation is assessing six patient portals, including Manage My Health, while developing a third-party risk management framework and incident response guide. The initial focus will be on higher-risk services handling patient information. Five actions from the plan will be jointly overseen with the Ministry of Health, while progress will be monitored by Te Whatu Ora’s Digital Transformation Committee.

In Australia, the New South Wales (NSW) government is investing more than A$270 million ($189 million) over 10 years to establish a statewide health-led emergency response model for people experiencing mental health crises.

The initiative includes the creation of a Virtual Mental Health Hub by NSW Ambulance, which will provide centralised clinical coordination and real-time specialist support during mental health emergencies. Eight Mental Health Acute Assessment Teams will also be deployed across the state, with each team comprising a paramedic and specialist mental health nurse.

The NSW government said the model will create more than 100 full-time roles and complement the existing Police Ambulance and Clinical Early Response programme.

Meanwhile, the Queensland government is investing A$6.4 million ($4.5 million) to expand Mater’s GP eConsultant service statewide. The service enables rural and regional doctors to seek specialist advice through a secure platform across areas including cardiology, dermatology, and adolescent and young adult medicine.

Since launching in October 2025, the service has supported more than 250 rural and regional GPs and over 1,000 patients, with almost 92% avoiding face-to-face specialist appointments.

Te Whatu Ora has also ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of a network connectivity failure that disrupted access to clinical systems across hospitals in New Zealand’s Waikato region on 22 July. The outage affected facilities in Hamilton, Thames, Te Kūiti, Tokoroa, and Taumarunui after primary network equipment failed and the secondary failover system did not activate.

In Australia, HealthLink has launched the first phase of a nationwide rollout integrating the Initial Assessment and Referral Decision Support Tool for Mental Health into general practice software. The HealthLink SmartForm enables GPs to complete structured mental health assessments, save outcomes in patient records, and support consistent referral processes.

Charles Sturt University’s School of Rural Medicine is also piloting Visionflex telehealth imaging technology at its Central West Clinical School in Parkes, NSW, to support rural medical training and digital healthcare capability. The technology captures images, video, and patient vital signs for remote specialist review.

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