About the health reforms

New Zealand has a high-quality publicly funded health system and a highly skilled, dedicated and professional health workforce. But we know there are opportunities to make improvements. That’s why we are building a national health system that will perform better for all of us.

Transforming the health system will create a more equitable, accessible, cohesive and people-centred system that will improve the health and wellbeing of all New Zealanders.

Partnerships and Te Tiriti principles will be woven throughout the future system and all it does. There will be strong expectations across our future health system to deliver care that will achieve better health outcomes for Māori and other groups who have not always been well served.

We’re transforming the health system to better:

• meet the complex demands of a growing population
• address the persistent inequalities experienced by Māori
• ensure greater access, experience and outcomes for those traditionally not well served by the system – Māori, Pacific and disabled people
• utilise modern technology and develop new and innovative ways of working
• focus on keeping people, their whānau and their communities well and out of hospitals – not just caring for them when they get sick.

On 1 July 2022, New Zealand's national health system was established. Having a national system means changes can be made over time to achieve better outcomes for New Zealanders’ health.  

Changes like:

• a greater range of care and support available for people in their local communities, with more care provided outside of hospitals.
• services such as general practice, well-child teams, pharmacists, dietitians, physiotherapists and hauora Māori providers will work more closely together to respond to and meet the needs of people in their local communities.
• more options for whānau to access kaupapa Māori and other appropriate services.
• those with greater or higher health needs will be able to get the services they require to help them get well sooner.
• access to consistent and high-quality emergency and specialist healthcare, available to everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand, no matter where they live.
• more virtual and digital services will be available to support the system, such as phone and video consultation, offering people a wider range of personalised support in their homes and local communities.
• people will be encouraged to get involved in designing health and wellbeing services that work for them, and have real influence over the services they receive, through participation in local planning and the opportunity to engage in national consumer forums.