Much of the information about a patient required for clinicians to make meaningful treatment plans exist outside of current medical systems - 60% of a person’s health outcome is determined by sources such as environment, nutrition and social circumstances, while 30% is genetic, and 10% is from their historical health record.

Health is personal, health is social. The integration of health and social services is essential to better understand people with complex needs and build services around them, combined with the use of technology to engage patients in their own care.

Capturing and applying this information is part of a global health revolution called precision medicine. There is no excuse for the continued delivery of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to healthcare - every person’s experience is unique, and we now have the technical capability to personalise health care delivery to every individual, and focus’ on prevention and early intervention.

Our challenge is that New Zealand should be a cradle of innovation for the world. Through the creation of an open ecosystem with partners, and the sharing of data across silos, we will have the building blocks to create a world-leading platform for personalised healthcare and enable precision medicine to be a reality in New Zealand.