Ryman Healthcare app scoops international award

Media release – May 16, 2019

Ryman Healthcare app scoops international award

myRyman wins top prize in Singapore

Ryman Healthcare’s three-year quest to build an app that eliminated paperwork and improved quality of life for residents has won a top international award.

myRyman won the top prize in the Innovation of the Year Residential Care Model category at the Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards in Singapore on May 15.

myRyman was a finalist in two other categories at the awards for the best innovations in aged care in the Asia Pacific region. The awards attract more than 200 entries from 17 countries.

The myRyman app runs on tablets in each of Ryman’s 3,500 care rooms. It is intuitive and easy to use and means that nurses and care staff can update care records in the room with the resident, in real time.

Chief Executive Gordon MacLeod said the win was great recognition for a large team who had turned an idea into reality.

“It has been a massive team effort to build our own app from scratch and turn it into something that has made a real improvement to the care of our residents.

“Team members from across all of Ryman came to work on it – from IT and software development through to our clinical teams – and it was a stunning team effort.

“Not only has it done what it set out to do – get rid of paperwork – but the data we’re collecting from it means we better understand care outcomes and allow us to lift our standards of care even higher. We think it has huge potential, and we’re delighted all this work has been recognised.’’

Ryman was the most successful New Zealand company at the awards, which have been held in Singapore for the past seven years as part of the annual Ageing Asia Innovation Forum.

myRyman started out as an idea back in 2015 when Chief Operations Officer Barbara Reynen-Rose went looking for an off-the-shelf electronic system for care in the United States but couldn't find one she liked.

The decision was taken to build Ryman's own version, and three years of hard work began.

myRyman was a revolution for care, Barbara said.

“When you’ve been used to filling out a lot of paper work all of your career it is a big thing to go electronic. But everyone involved in the pilot loved it because the team did a great job at making the app easy to understand.

“The hard thing is developing these apps in a way that is user-friendly and intuitive – and the team created something that everyone can use.’’

“It’s a bit like moving from a landline to using a smart phone. Once you’ve done it you never look back.’’

Barbara said residents and their families could be assured that care plans were being read and updated and everything staff needed to be aware of was there.

Care staff no longer had to spend time at the nurses’ station entering what they’d written down.

“It’s all about people – improving care for our residents and making the job more satisfying for our care staff. No one signs up to sit behind a desk.’’

Chief People and Technology Officer Nicole Forster said she was proud of the achievement.

“We’ve seen our clinical and our technology teams come together like never before, and the results have been magic.’’

The award is Ryman’s second accolade in short succession. Last month Ryman took the top award in the aged care and retirement village category in the Reader’s Digest 2019 Most Trusted Brands awards. Ryman also won in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018.

About Ryman Healthcare: Ryman was founded in 1984 and has become one of New Zealand’s largest listed companies. The company owns 35 retirement villages in New Zealand and Australia which are home to more than 11,000 residents and the company employs over 5,300 staff.

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