Innovation helping millions
Local company Streamliners is making an impact globally as it fulfils its mission to improve the health and wellbeing of people worldwide.
What started as a simple online guide to help GPs assess and manage heart patients into specialist services in Canterbury is now a comprehensive tool for more than 600 conditions used by GPs, nurses, and other health professionals across 60 health systems who care for 35 million patients around Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
HealthPathways provides clinicians with quick access to the latest global evidence and best practice. It gives them instant guidance, including what questions to ask and what treatments are available. This is combined with hyper-local information on what specialist care is available for patients in their region.
Streamliners celebrated a milestone in April with the opening of its new campus in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where 120 of the company’s 150 employees work. The company is an example of the booming local health tech sector that makes Christchurch stand out on the global stage.
“One of Christchurch’s greatest strengths is as a leading hub for innovative, future-focused businesses. Streamliners is an important part of the health-tech community in Christchurch, which is significant because health-tech is one of the city’s four high growth clusters or focus areas,” says Ali Adams, ChristchurchNZ CEO.
Wales introduced HealthPathways nationally last year and reports reduced waiting lists and referrals. The pathways help to identify and reduce the “risk of location impacting access to care that can result in inequitable healthcare between regions”.
National pathways were introduced in New Zealand and Australia during the Covid-19 response when health recommendations were being updated at a rapid pace.
The pathway development process has benefits too. It brings general practitioners and hospital specialists together, where new solutions to challenges can be designed by the clinical care teams and then shared for everyone to follow.
HealthPathways is delivered by Streamliners, a company owned 80 per cent by the Joined Up Systems Trust (JUST), which aims to support the integration of health and social services. The other 20 per cent is owned by Te Whatu Ora. This structure was implemented by the company founders last year to make sure that corporate profit motivations would not overtake the company’s mission to improve the health and wellbeing of people around the world.
Streamliners CEO Stella Ward joined the team in January 2024. She has been recognised for her advocacy in digital health throughout her career.
“Streamliners contributes to the broader knowledge economy here in New Zealand with our weightless export capabilities. We’re world leaders at providing timely, accurate, contextualised information to educators and health professionals so that they can address the educational and health needs of the individuals they serve. We are enablers of integrated health and social care systems – an integrated care system delivers better quality care and health outcomes. Our HealthPathways products and services bring policy into practice at scale. Being part of our global community creates a network effect where we can deliver on our purpose – to improve the health and wellbeing of people around the globe.”