4702 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health

4702 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health: What progress, if any, has been made in the last quarter (September to December 2023), toward the strategic priority ‘relationships and partnerships’ as part of Pharmac’s statement of intent, as discussed on page 36 of the Pharmac Review final report?

Hon David Seymour: I am advised that the quotation from the review refers to a strategic priority from Pharmac’s previous Statement of Intent (SOI), at the time of the review. Pharmac’s current SOI priorities are different. Therefore Pharmac did not formally report against that priority for the quarter ending December 2023. Progress reported of a similar nature in the last quarter against the current SOI priorities includes working with the Health Quality and Safety Commission on developing measures for medicines access equity; collaborating with Health New Zealand on progressing work on medical devices; and working with the Director of Pacific Health in the Ministry of Health on a number of equity-focused activities. Pharmac released its new engagement strategy and reported that it is well advanced on agreeing a Memorandum of Agreement with the Cancer Control agency.