Te Whatu Ora Commissioner Lester Levy opened our second Health Innovators’ Summit with a sobering stocktake. Patients wait too long for essential services. The system suffers from poor productivity. Compassion is often missing in patient care. These issues compound a deep financial crisis.

New Zealand’s health system faces severe challenges. Yet our Summit, sponsored by nib, showed reasons for hope.

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey highlighted how relevant the ideas of localism and subsidiarity are in health. He explained that it is crucial to tailor services to specific communities.

Building on this theme, our chief economist, Eric Crampton, presented our new report on the Canadian First Nations Health Authority. The report describes how their indigenous-led healthcare initiatives work for them – and what lessons they hold for New Zealand.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s CEO Tom Irvine agreed, not least because his iwi is engaged in addressing the needs of his local community. Maria English, CEO of Impact Lab, then demonstrated how measuring the impact of their programmes can guide future interventions and improve outcomes further.

Technology featured prominently in many discussions. There is widespread frustration in the sector with outdated systems. Who would have thought that sending faxes is still a routine part of sharing information between doctors and hospitals in 2024?

As our health research fellow and GP, Dr Prabani Wood, highlighted, such technology deficiencies makes it harder to deliver the continuity that is crucial in primary health care.

Our speakers emphasised solutions that do not require massive government intervention. They are right. Waiting for government to intervene usually takes much too long.

Yet the government must play its part in fixing systemic issues. Parts of the system are broken in ways that only government can sort out.

This year’s Health Innovators’ Summit explored plausible solutions to New Zealand’s health crisis. But those solutions require willingness to embrace change, trust local knowledge, and focus on measurable outcomes.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s Tom Irvine paraphrased a well-known Māori proverb to sum up what is required to reform New Zealand’s health system: “He aha te mea nui o tēnei ao, he tangata, he takiwā, he kaupapa.” (What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is place, it is purpose.)

Emphasising people, place and purpose characterise localism. It is for the people, guided by data, towards a better future.

Watch Lester Levy's keynote address at the Health Innovators' Summit here.