Health New Zealand’s latest quarterly update on primary care performance for Q4 2024/25 (April to June 2025) shows steady progress in key primary care performance indicators and introduces a new measure that gives a clearer picture of how New Zealanders are using general practice services.

Primary care indicators track how well our health system is supporting people to stay well and get the care they need, when they need it. We publish these results every quarter to help PHOs, general practices, and the public see what’s working, where improvements are happening, and where more support is needed.

This quarter, for the first time, we’ve included General Practice Qualifying Encounter Dates (GPQEDs) in our reporting. 

GPQEDs count a wide range of patient interactions with general practice including face-to-face consults, phone and online appointments, prescription requests, immunisations, and more.

This new measure gives us a more complete and timely view of how people are engaging with their general practice, helping us better understand access and demand across the country.

The latest results show:  

  • Enrolment availability data shows that just over half of general practices are open to new enrolments, with another 15% open with restrictions. 
  • A consistent upward trend has emerged in recent months, with the proportion of practices accepting new enrolments increasing from 70.3% in March to 71.3% in June 2025, reinforcing the positive shift in enrolment availability. 
  • The Northern region continues to have the highest proportion of practices open to new patients, while the Central region remains the lowest. Access to primary care is still variable across regions and PHOs. 
  • National childhood immunisation coverage continues to improve, with 82.2% of 8-month-olds and 83.5% of 24-month-olds fully immunised, both up from last quarter.
  • From Q3 2024/2025 (January to March 2025) to Q4 2024/2025 (April to June 2025), both 8-month and 24-month childhood immunisation rates have shown a small but positive national increase. For the 8-month milestone, the national fully immunised rate increased by 0.4 percentage points and for the 24-month milestone the national fully immunised rate increased by 2.4 percentage points. 
  • Over the past year, childhood immunisation coverage has shown steady progress. The 24-month milestone increased from 77.6% to 83.5%, while coverage at 8 months rose from 80.2% to 82.2%. These gains reflect the positive impact of sustained outreach and engagement with families. 
  • While these gains are encouraging, Māori and Pacific children still have lower coverage than other groups, though the gap is slowly narrowing.
  • Some PHOs, such as Taranaki DHB PHO and Cosine Primary Care Network Trust, are achieving coverage rates above 90%, while others, especially in Bay of Plenty, Northland, and Tairāwhiti, remain below 65%. These results highlight both progress and the ongoing need to focus on equity.
  • Smoking cessation support remains an area for improvement. 
  • The national proportion of people who smoke being offered cessation support or referral has remained almost unchanged from Q3 24/25 to Q4 24/25, with a very slight decrease of 0.2 percentage points. 
  • However, while the proportion of people who smoke being offered cessation support or referral has seen a slight decline over the past four quarters (27.3% to 25.0%), the measure remains relatively stable.
  • This highlights an opportunity to re-engage efforts and build on existing foundations to support more people in their quit journey. 
  • This quarter shows ‘brief advice to quit’ was given to about 63% of current smokers in the last quarter. 
  • However, only one in four are getting actual cessation support or referral, and there are still significant differences between PHOs and ethnic groups, with Māori having higher smoking rates and lower support rates. 
  • The introduction of GPQEDs provides a new lens on how people are using general practice.
  • Nationally, there were about 330 encounters per 1,000 enrolled patients per month.
  • Older people have much higher encounter rates, with those aged 80 and over averaging more than 700 encounters per 1,000 per month.
  • Māori and Pacific peoples have slightly lower encounter rates than the national average, but the difference is not large.
  • GPQED rates are stable across the quarter, providing a reliable new baseline for future reporting. 

Martin Hefford, Director Living Well, Health New Zealand, says the results show that while steady progress is being made in key areas like childhood immunisation, there is still work to do to ensure everyone can access the care and support they need. 

“The introduction of GPQEDs gives us a much richer understanding of how people are using general practice, and where there may be barriers to access.

“I want to thank PHOs and general practices for their ongoing commitment to improving outcomes for whānau and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We encourage all practices to keep focusing on equity, access, and supporting people to stay well,” says Mr Hefford.

ENDS

Media contact: hnzmedia@tewhatuora.govt.nz