Health & Animal Care Partners

Health & Animal Care Partners

EBOS enables reliable and efficient healthcare and animal care across New Zealand and Australia.

Leveraging the breadth and depth of skills and experience in our portfolio of leading businesses, EBOS works collaboratively with private and public customers to deliver the best care for their patients and consumers. We put our customers first in every interaction, offering distinctive value by listening to their needs to build lasting business relationships.

 

Delivering essential infrastructure for health
BAC2771 V3
EBOS is an integral provider to the Australasian healthcare market. We build, maintain and operate advanced physical infrastructure, information systems and business networks that are essential for timely and reliable delivery of healthcare products and services across New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia.

We continue to expand and upgrade our network of modern and energy-efficient distribution centres across New Zealand and Australia. In January 2023, we opened a new 13,400m2 Healthcare Logistics (HCL) distribution centre in Auckland with pallet capacity of 13,350. Our investments further enhance our resilience to extreme weather events and additional capacity allows for increased levels of safety stocks in the event of supply chain disruptions.

To protect our assets and ensure service continuity in times of crisis, we implement a comprehensive set of risk mitigation measures when planning and developing our major projects.

Among others, these measures include:
• Flood mitigation
• Back-up power
• Safety critical communications
• Fire protection for IT infrastructure
Enhancing supply chain resilience for a changing climate

Over the past 12 months, New Zealand has experienced contrasting weather extremes with exceptional rainfall occuring on the North Island but drought in some areas of the South Island. Described in the New Zealand Government’s first National Climate Change Risk
Assessment, published in August 2022, climate change will impact every aspect of the nation’s infrastructure system—from construction and maintenance to daily operations and long-term planning.

At EBOS, we continue to take proactive steps to evaluate operational risks of fire, flood and other natural hazards in our distribution  centres using comprehensive site assessments, which are undertaken as one of the first steps in any new facility assessment.

During the summer of 2022-23, ProPharma New Zealand worked closely with distribution partners to avoid delays from road closures and  implemented extra precautions for cold chain deliveries on affected routes. Even around Coromandel, an area that was severely  affected by flooding and landslides, daily deliveries of essential medicines were assured. In February, Cyclone Gabrielle wreaked havoc across the North Island with intense rainfall exceeding 300mm.

Due to the unwavering commitment of our dedicated teams, our customers continued to receive urgent healthcare deliveries. Onelink,  Healthcare Logistics and ProPharma joined forces with Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and the New Zealand Defence Force, overcoming roadblocks and other obstacles, to supply emergency oncology and pharmaceutical inventory to Te Tai Tokerau Northland and Te Matau ā Māui Hawke’s Bay.

Data security & privacy

We recognise the importance of data security and privacy practices to our stakeholders including customers, supply partners and employees. The expectations of our stakeholders are increasing and evolving at a fast pace, and we aim to meet those expectations and comply with relevant regulatory requirements.

Governance

Recognising that data security and privacy is a shared responsibility across the Group, a Cyber Security & Privacy Steering Committee was set up during the year comprising members of the Executive Leadership Team and senior IT management and led by the Group CEO. The Steering Committee reviews progress made against a  number of projects and, recognising the complexity in this area, provides guidance on the priorities for the Group.

The Board receives an update at each regular Board meeting on cyber security and privacy matters. In addition, the Audit & Risk Committee receives in-depth reports on cyber security and privacy at least annually.

Areas of focus

During the year During the year, EBOS commenced a project to align and, where necessary, uplift, privacy processes. A data mapping exercise was undertaken and areas for potential improvement were identified. It is expected that the work under this project will be on-going. Privacy policies and collection notices across the Australian and New Zealand businesses are being updated to reflect the collection, use and disclosure practices of specific businesses. Privacy impact assessments are also undertaken for new processes in Australia and New Zealand as those are being considered or implemented.

In relation to data security, EBOS continues to invest resources in polices, processes and technology to respond to emerging threats. The risk of a significant cyber security incident has been identified in the Group’s strategic risk profile. Having regard to this, during the year cyber security response plans were implemented or improved at the leadership (Board and Executive Leadership Team) and IT operational levels, and cyber incident  simulation exercises were undertaken.

The Group has also undertaken a project to align our security policies, standards and procedures to ISO/IEC 27001, an internationally recognised standard for the management of information security, with a view to being certified against this standard by an independent auditor.