13977 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

13977 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: Do existing contracts for the delivery of publicly funded elective surgical services provided by third parties include contractual requirements to report pre-operative or post-operative complications?

Hon Simeon Brown: I am advised that all 34 Surgical Panel agreements include the requirement for providers to report and escalate any complications that occur during and following a procedure, prior to the patient being discharged back to the referring district. This is part of Health New Zealand's policy of outsourcing procedures, an approach that has been used under successive governments, to support better value for money and making full use of available capacity across the health system to ensure more patients are seen and treated sooner.