19 March 2025
J Jensen
[FYI request #29806 email]
Tēnā koe J Jensen
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00076569
Thank you for your email transferred from the Ministry of Health to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu
Ora on 21 January 2025, asking for the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“total by year (and by region/DHB if possible) of children 0 - 8 years old enrolled for publicly
funded dental care since 2017.
total by quarter and region/DHB of enrolled children who are overdue by 6 months, 1 year+
for an appointment with a school/community dental service.”
Followed by your clarification email on 17 February 2025:
“Please can you supply by district/region and I'm happy to have from 2019 if that is what
you have available.”
Health NZ sought further refinement on 21 February 2025, and we do not appear to have received
a reply.
Response
Please note that the data provided for this response is provisional. This data has not been through
the full quality assurance process that we use before publishing data and is subject to change.
Published data may differ from the provisional data presented here. Published data should be
considered the most accurate source and used where possible.
Please see
Appendices 1 – 5 for data on the number of
children 0 - 8 years old enrolled, and the
number of
enrolled children who are overdue for an appointment, for publicly funded dental care by
Health NZ district for calendar years 2019 to 2023. Data for calendar year 2024 is not yet available.
Further breakdown for enrolled children who are overdue, by quarter, and who are overdue by 6
months, and longer is not held centrally.
Data across multiple districts and multiple years requires significant effort to locate and collate. The
data is held in different systems for different districts and there is no consistent methodology to
ensure the same accurate data is able to be extracted by each district. As such, I refuse this part of
your request under section 18(f) of the Act.
I have considered whether fixing a charge for the supply of the information or extending the
timeframe for response would enable Health NZ to respond. I do not consider that either option
would remove the impact that supplying the information would have on our other operations.
You might also be interested in our publicly available oral health data which contains statistics on
the number of children examined, by district and region.
2023 data can be found on
www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/data-and-
statistics.Historical data sets can be found on
www.health.govt.nz/nz-health-statistics/health-
statistics-and-data-sets/oral-health-data-and-stats/age-5-and-year-8-oral-health-data-community-
oral-health-service.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Health NZ may proactively
release a copy of this response on our website. All requester data, including your name and
contact details, will be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Danielle Coe
Manager (OIAs) – Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
