Te Pae Tata Interim NZ Health Plan

The interim NZ Health Plan sets out the first two years of health system transformation to improve the health & wellbeing of all New Zealanders.

About the Plan

Te Pae Tata interim New Zealand Health Plan 2022 outlines the first steps to becoming a health service delivery system that better serves all New Zealand’s people and communities.

This plan covers a period of reset while the foundations of our health system change. As an initial plan, it outlines what we will do differently to establish the basis of a unified, affordable and sustainable health system.

Te Pae Tata replaces 20 different district annual plans. This interim plan is designed to begin transformation while a full-scale New Zealand Health Plan is being worked on.

Read the Plan

Te Pae Tata Interim New Zealand Health Plan 2022

No matter who you are and where you live

The plan sets out foundational actions for transforming the health system to prioritise the needs and experiences of our whānau and communities, preventing illness and supporting good health and wellbeing for all New Zealanders, no matter who you are and where you live. It does not reflect everything that we will be doing over the next two years, but identifies priority actions and groups to begin transformation.

The benefits of becoming one system will take time to be realised – but the changes we start in this interim Plan will build a momentum where working as one system, with our workforces, our providers and our partner agencies, becomes the platform for innovation, changes and excellence.

The foundations of our new health system

The foundations of our new health system, outlined in the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) legislation are:

Health equity matters for everyone
Embedding a Tiriti-dynamic health system
Implementing a population health approach
Ensuring a sustainable health service delivery system

Our six priority action

The core sets of actions in Te Pae Tata will ultimately deliver key shifts in health service delivery.

1. Place whānau at the heart of the system to improve equity and outcomes

Implement mechanisms that ensure Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora value the voices of consumers and whānau in all service design and improvements, including Māori, Pacific, Tāngata whaikaha | Disabled people, ethnic and rainbow communities.
Improve equity and outcomes by implementing service change and innovation in five priority areas:
- Pae ora | Better health in our communities
- Kahu Taurima | Maternity and early years
- Mate pukupuku | People with cancer
- Māuiuitanga taumaha | People living with chronic health conditions
- Oranga hinengaro | People living with mental distress, illness and addictions
Implement the Pacific health plan priorities.
Implement the Health of Tāngata whaikaha | Disabled people plan priorities.

2. Embed Te Tiriti o Waitangi across the health sector

Embed the principles and obligations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and implement the Māori health improvement plan.

3. Develop an inclusive health workforce

Grow the numbers and diversity of the health workforce, including Māori, Pacific and Tāngata whaikaha | Disabled people, to meet demand by addressing critical workforce gaps and ensuring workforce pipelines for future growth.
Implement Te Mauri o Rongo | the Health Charter, and monitor actions to improve the workplace experience of the healthcare workforce.
Develop an inclusive leadership and culture increasing the number of Māori, Pacific and Tāngata whaikaha | Disabled people in leadership and decision-making roles across the system.

4. Keep people well in their communities

Implement the localities model across Aotearoa with locality partnership groups and provider networks to ensure all New Zealanders are part of a locality, with published plans agreed with Iwi Māori Partnership Boards.
Establish the National Public Health Service, embedding Te Tiriti and leading implementation of a population health approach across service commissioning and localities, including working with Iwi Māori Partnership Boards.
Establish comprehensive primary and community care teams within locality provider networks and improve access to healthcare for rural and remote communities.
Implement the Reset and Restore Planned Care Plan with demand balanced across sites to maximise delivery to all our communities, utilising all the resources available.

5. Develop greater use of digital services to provide more care in homes and communities

Scale and adapt population health digital services developed to support the COVID-19 response to serve other key population health priorities.
Improve the interoperability of data and digital systems across the hospital network, and between primary, community and secondary care settings.
Improve digital access to primary care as an option to improve access and choice, including virtual after-hours and telehealth, with a focus on rural communities.

6. Establish Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora to support a financially sustainable system

Implement a new national, regional and local organisation structure that unifies and simplifies the system including a consistent standardised operating model for corporate functions, including people and culture, finance, commissioning, hospital and specialist, data and digital and infrastructure.
Capture the efficiencies of consolidation to redirect resources to the delivery of healthcare with an emphasis on reducing the overall proportion of expenditure related to corporate costs, redeploying those savings to frontline staff and services.
Create and implement actions to deliver national consistency in data and digital capability and solutions across Te Whatu Ora including streamlining duplicate legacy systems inherited from DHBs and Shared Service Agencies, to improve intra-operability and reduce operating costs.
Deliver the approved capital projects that are underway, to ensure that project milestones are met, and benefits realised.
Deliver a national asset management strategy and capital investment plan to inform Budget 2024, and out years, including the information solution strategy, requirements and road map for asset management and investment analysis.
Build the national procurement and supply chain function that implements supply chain strategy, policies, and guidance.
Implement a climate sustainability and response plan across the health sector.

Accountability

Te Pae Tata contains a broad range of actions, and we must build the confidence of the Government, providers, the workforce and New Zealanders that the reform is making affordable decisions and having the impact needed.

We will report against the achievement of the actions outlined in this plan and on our national and regional financial performance.

In these first two years, we begin with the existing performance measures, including those in the interim Government Policy Statement on Health.

From 1 January 2023, we will have new system performance improvement measures. These measures will start to demonstrate what New Zealanders can expect from our system.

How Te Pae Tata is funded

The affordability of these changes is underpinned by financial planning. Government is supporting this transition with a two-year funding pathway providing the necessary financial certainty for our first two years of operation.

All the actions in Te Pae Tata are:

directly funded as an initiative in Budget 22; or
funded by a previous budget decision where the revenue has transferred to Te Whatu Ora from the Ministry of Health; or
funded by the consolidation of existing resources; or
funded by the re-commissioning (redesign and re-contracting) of existing services.