12 March 2025
Sam C
[FYI request #29827 email]
Tēnā koe Sam C
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00076763
Thank you for your email, transferred from the Ministry of Health to Health New Zealand | Te
Whatu Ora on 27 January 2025, asking for the fol owing under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act):
“Pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982, I would like to know:
1. How many individual's over the age of 18 were referred to publicly-funded
head and neck (otolaryngology) services for tonsil ectomy in each year of
2015-2024?
2. For the same time periods, how many referrals cited sleep apnea, diabetes, or
asthma as extenuating factors?
3. For the same time periods, how many tonsil ectomies were performed, grouped
by extenuating factors (sleep apnea, diabetes, or asthma );
* Please breakdown the responses to questions 1-3 by health district (formerly
district health boards) and age bands 18-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69,
70+.”
Response
We sincerely apologise for the delay in providing you with a response.
You asked,
1. How many individual's over the age of 18 were referred to publicly-funded
head and neck (otolaryngology) services for tonsil ectomy in each year of
2015-2024?
2. For the same time periods, how many referrals cited sleep apnea, diabetes, or
asthma as extenuating factors?
This data is held within hospital patient administration systems which Health NZ cannot access
from a centralised dataset. This information may be held on individual patient notes, however, this
would require Health NZ staff to manually search patient files. As such, I refuse this aspect of your
request under section 18(f) of the Act, as providing the information requested would require a
substantial amount of collation and research to provide.
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 also asked,
3. For the same time periods, how many tonsil ectomies were performed, grouped
by extenuating factors (sleep apnea, diabetes, or asthma );
* Please breakdown the responses to questions 1-3 by health district (formerly
district health boards) and age bands 18-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+.
Please see
Appendix One attached, which includes the number of publicly funded Tonsil ectomy
or Adenoidectomy procedures broken down by financial year, age group, and District Health
Board.
Hospitals report information to Health NZ about treatment they have provided, this is collated into a
national hospitalisations dataset called the National Minimum Dataset (NMDS). The information
reported to NMDS does not include information on comorbidities, including sleep apnea, diabetes
and asthma.
This information may be held on individual patient notes at treating hospitals, however, this would
require Health NZ staff to manually search patient files. As such, I refuse this aspect of your
request under section 18(f) of the Act, as providing the information requested would require a
substantial amount of collation and research to provide.
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.
Please note the following about the data in
Appendix One:
• Hospitalisation data is reported at time of discharge. For this reason, the data presented in
Appendix One counts the number of hospital discharges where a tonsil ectomy or
adenoidectomy was reported.
• This data is provisional and used for operational purposes. It has not been through the full
quality assurance process that we use before publishing data and therefore is subject to
change.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us a
t [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. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Stuart Bloomfield
Interim Director Data and Analytics
Planning, Funding and Outcomes
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
