Consultations on health and disability standards and data strategy

Tue 01 Dec 2020

The Government is carrying out two consultations: on the Health and Disability Services Standard, and a data and information strategy for health and disability.

Consultation on Health and Disability Services Standard

The Ministry of Health and Standards New Zealand have worked with the health and disability sectors to develop a Draft Amended Health and Disability Services Standard. This Standard incorporates four existing Standards: the Health and Disability Services Standard, the Fertility Services Standard, the Home and Community Support Sector Standard and the Interim-Standards for Abortion in New Zealand.

Feedback is invited on the Draft Amended Health and disability services standard. The consultation closes on 13 January 2021.

The standard is designed to set the minimum requirements necessary for fair and equitable health and disability services. Section 1.5 of the Draft Amended standard is "I am protected from abuse." The section has six criteria with specific "sector solutions" on how to meet each criteria for different service types.

Other parts of the standard are also relevant to family, whānau and sexual violence work.

More information is available in the Draft Amended standards on the Standards New Zealand website (search for DZ 8134:2020).

To provide comments:

Submit comments online via the Standards New Zealand website (search for DZ 8134:2020).
Download and complete the public comment form and email it to SNZPublicComments@mbie.govt.nz.

For questions contact Standards New Zealand at +64 3 943 4259 or enquiries@standards.govt.nz.

Consultation on data and information strategy

The Ministry of Health is asking for feedback to inform the development of a data and information strategy for health and disability.

The consultation survey closes on 20 December 2020.

The consultation is aimed at all people who work with and are interested in data and information within the New Zealand health and disability system. The Ministry of Health states that they will engage separately with people who use health and disability services in New Zealand.

The Ministry of Health consultation information states:

"Having the right data and information at our fingertips is essential for good decision-making and is an important part of building a modern data and digitally-enabled health and disability system. It’s about giving clinicians and consumers easier access to relevant health information in order to provide better health outcomes for all New Zealanders. To achieve that, we need to make sure data and information are managed and governed appropriately, and that the right safeguards, ethics, security and privacy protocols are in place."

See the Ministry of Health consultation hub for more information and to complete the survey online.

This strategy will be a companion strategy for the Digital Health Strategic Framework.

For more information or questions email data_governance@health.govt.nz.

Image: Christina Morillo from Pexels