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Has Health New Zealand provided him or Associate Minister of Health Costello with data on declined referrals that differs from the seven-district figures released to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists; if so, what is the data and on what date was it provided? and 1 other question

Answered 25908, 25909 (2026)
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Asked by

Ayesha Verrall

List MP · Labour Party

Questions

  • 25908

    Has Health New Zealand provided him or Associate Minister of Health Costello with data on declined referrals that differs from the seven-district figures released to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists; if so, what is the data and on what date was it provided?

  • 25909

    Did the Associate Minister of Health's statement in the House on his behalf on 21 May 2026 that "the proportion declined has reduced over the past year" rely on the same seven-district data released to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, if not which data did it rely on?

    Original response/referral lodged:

Answered by

Hon Simeon Brown

Member for Pakuranga · National Party · Minister of Health

Answer

I am advised that indicative information on decline data was provided in a briefing to my office on 20 May 2026 and was sourced from the national referral data set, which is still in development. I am further advised the data supplied to ASMS from seven districts was drawn from local patient administration systems. This data did not go through a national quality assurance process prior to release and districts applied their own definitions (inclusions/ exclusions) to this data set.