Te Whatu Ora shared digital health record delayed until December

The first stage of a national digital health record system, intended to support New Zealand’s new 24/7 online medical service, won’t be ready until December – six months later than expected.

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora confirms the delay on its website, outlining the work it has to do to get the project off the ground.

The shared digital health record (SDHR) was originally planned to go live alongside the 24/7 telehealth service, which is still scheduled to launch this month.

New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa understands the initial scope of the SDHR was to give urgent-care and telehealth clinicians access to patients’ core medical information. 

“There would be increased risk with that, with clinicians not knowing a patient’s classifications, what medications they take and their allergies”

In March, RNZCGP medical director and Tauranga-based specialist GP Luke Bradford said having a national SDHR system was a prerequisite for the telehealth service. 

“If we want to have a comprehensive [service], we will need to have a national shared patient record system.” 

The lack of a national unified health record system in New Zealand has been a problem for years. More recent plans to build a nationwide system, Hira, came to a grinding halt after future funding for the project was slashed as part of the Te Whatu Ora budget cuts last year.

Speaking to New Zealand Doctor today, Dr Bradford says that while the 24/7 service could still go ahead next month without the SDHR, he doesn’t know if it’s a good idea. 

“There would be increased risk with that, with clinicians not knowing a patient’s classifications, what medications they take, and their allergies,” he says.  

The original timeframe – to have the SDHR ready by the end of this month – was probably unrealistic, Dr Bradford says.

“The worry here is they’ve pushed it back to December. And we’ve been waiting for this for years.”  

The SDHR won’t contain complete patient notes but will have a breakdown of a patient’s main classifications, medications and allergies. 

Dr Bradford says he doubts many patients will object to their data being used once they understand it will not involve their entire medical history, just core data sets. 

A statement on the Te Whatu Ora website says: “The [SDHR] project had been aiming for a June 2025 production readiness date. However various internal and external factors mean a December 2025 timeline is now more realistic.” 

Te Whatu Ora is still finalising privacy and security requirements – including how patients will be informed about what data is being collected and shared, the statement says. The agency also plans to work with primary care providers to share read-only data from their practice systems via existing shared electronic health records.

According to the agency, more details will be provided by its digital services team in the coming weeks. 

In March, Te Whatu Ora acting chief information technology officer Darren Douglass confirmed the agency had allocated $4 million in funding for a SDHR.  

But the funds would only last until the end of June and more money will be needed to allow the record to be used by first responders, hospitals and specialist services. 

New Zealand Doctor has approached the agency for comment on the impact the SDHR project delays could have on the 24/7 service and if more funding is needed.