8557 (2025). Hon Phil Twyford to the Minister of Health

8557 (2025). Hon Phil Twyford to the Minister of Health: Does Te Whatu Ora have any policy on the referral of clients to Destiny Church and any of its subsidiaries including Man Up, by the Department or any organisations to which it sub-contracts, and if so, what is it, bearing in mind Question 5555 referred to contracting not client referral?

Hon Simeon Brown: Our Government is focused on delivering timely, quality healthcare for all New Zealanders. I am advised that Health New Zealand does not have policies for specific organisations outside of those with which it holds contracts. I am further advised that to ascertain whether any contracted providers - for example, general practitioners - were referring their patients to any services provided by Destiny Church would require Health New Zealand to request frontline staff to undertake substantial manual searches of all patient files. As per Speaker’s Ruling 185-6, the time and cost involved in answering this question are not justified in the public interest.