The healthcare sector is currently looking at five different areas in which blockchain technology may potentially be applied, but it's early days yet and a commercial solution for any application is still some way off, IBM says.

IBM Australia's senior health adviser Annette Hicks told the HiNZ conference in New Zealand last week that blockchain has the potential to solve some of the challenges facing healthcare, but it will require collaboration from providers for it to succeed and there are currently few people equipped with the skills to turn its potential into reality.