A former Health New Zealand chair is sounding the alarm about hospital hardware in need of an upgrade.

New reports confirm thousands of apps, a thousand servers, and a thousand devices around Health New Zealand hospitals are said to be fragile - in a released briefing to the Health Minister.

The briefing states technology can improve care.

Former Health Chair Rob Campbell says people just hope the issue goes away.

"It's too big a mess to put up with, it's not an unfamiliar mess compared to other public health systems around the world."

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