Pātiki and Waharua Kōpito patterns
A review of the health system identifies reduced access to healthcare as the most significant quality and safety issue for patients and confirms the need to focus sharply on improving wait times, NZ Health Commissioner Lester Levy says.
Last year I tasked Health NZ with completing a quality and safety review to provide a comprehensive assessment of current trends.
The organisation has been undergoing a significant period of change. I wanted to ensure a transparent benchmark against which it can be held to account, as we build a higher quality and more sustainable health system for New Zealanders.
Health NZ released today the Clinical Quality and Safety Review: Longitudinal Data report, which examines quality and safety, patient experience, and harms data over the last decade.
The review found internationally in broad terms of quality and safety of care, New Zealand performs reasonably, however, access to timely primary and hospital healthcare has markedly deteriorated in recent years.
Many of the issues highlighted in the report are not new and have been grappled with for years by successive governments and health systems across the globe.
Like other countries, an ageing population, increasing chronic disease prevalence and resulting growth in demand for acute care, are placing increasing pressure on our health system.
The report confirms we are on the right track. It finds that more timely access to health services is the most significant quality and safety issue and progressing this is reflected in our strongly renewed focus on delivery and achieving health targets.
Our recently published Health Delivery Plan demonstrates how we are changing the way we operate, including to address wait times for assessment and treatment and GPs’ services, and including establishing deeper and broader clinical involvement in decision-making.
We are committed to delivering better health outcomes for New Zealanders.
This is the reason our Health NZ people come to work every day, and I want to acknowledge their dedication and the high-quality healthcare they provide every day, Professor Levy says.
Chief Clinical Officer Richard Sullivan says that at the same time, Health NZ is taking a belts and braces approach to areas where quality or safety concerns have been identified. Identification has been made easier by our better ability to collect data across the system, and work to address issues will be enhanced with a more prominent clinical voice.
Ensuring quality and safety of healthcare is central to Health NZ’s Delivery Plan – issued in March 2025. It is increasing clinical leadership and partnerships at all levels of the organisation to enhance clinical perspectives in decision making.
In addition, Health NZ has established governance and systems for monitoring and improvement of clinical quality and safety that align with Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission governance framework.
The findings of the Clinical Quality and Safety Review will be incorporated, alongside other data, reports and alerts, into ongoing clinical quality and safety monitoring and improvement.
A national Health NZ clinical governance framework that aligns with Te Tāhū Hauora’s framework will be in place by mid-2025.
Read the Clinical Quality and Safety Review: Longitudinal Data report [PDF, 4.2 MB]