25905 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

25905 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: Did Health New Zealand advise the Minister or Associate Minister of Health Costello that the proportion of declined first specialist assessment referrals has reduced over the past year; if so, on what date, and based on what dataset?

Hon Simeon Brown: I am advised that Health New Zealand provided advice to my office in relation to an Oral Parliamentary Question on 21 May 2026 which stated Health NZ was developing capability to report nationally on declined referrals through the national rapid data set, expected to be available by December 2026. Health NZ has not previously reported national decline rates but can report on the number of patients accepted onto waitlists and who receive FSAs. Health NZ previously provided an indicative view of this data as part of briefing notes supplied to my office on 20 May 2026. This provided an early view of referral and decline data based on operational information available within the national Rapid data set, noting that further quality assurance was underway.