9 September 2025
John Sutton
[FYI request #31372 email]
Tēnā koe John
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00091598
Thank you for your email received on 24 June 2025, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
for the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
Can You please provide all communications, meeting minutes & relevant documentation
which led to the Dialysis Taxi contract being removed from Blue Bubble Taxis & given to
another organisation.
On 4 July 2025 we suggested the following refinement to your request, for which you agreed to on
5 July 2025:
Using the date range between 1 May 2024 and 1 January 2025, can you please
provide all communications, meeting minutes & relevant documentation which led to the
Dialysis Taxi contract being removed from Blue Bubble Taxis & given to another
organisation?
I apologise for the delay in providing our response. The time taken is not what we aspire to. This is
something we are working to get on top of as we deal with a high volume of requests and the
understandably high public interest in our work.
Response
Following an open market
Request for Proposal (refer to Appendix 1) in November 2020, a panel
of suppliers was established to provide staff and patient transport services for the Auckland Metro
Region District Health Boards (DHB) and Health Source entities, now all part of Health NZ.
Three Panel Suppliers were contracted to provide services, namely:
1. Auckland Co-op Taxis (Auckland Co-op), which is part of the wider Blue Bubble Taxis
2. Taxi Transport Consortium (TTC)
3. Go Bus
In this letter, when we refer to the Panel Suppliers we mean these three suppliers. The draft
Master Procurement Agreement for Staff and Urgent Item Transportation Services that was
provided as part of the Request for Proposal is attached (refer to Appendix 2). The Panel Suppliers
each entered into contracts in substantially the same form as that draft Master Procurement
Agreement. The operation of the Panel allows Health NZ to issue a purchase order to purchase
directly from any of the Panel Suppliers.
During 2024, several complaints regarding Auckland Co-op as a service provider, were received by
Health NZ.
Health NZ is withholding the communication and meeting minutes in relation to these complaints
under the following sections of the OIA:
• 9(2)(a) in order to protect the privacy of patient information.
The need to protect their privacy is not outweighed by the public interest in the release of this
information. Where information is withheld, I have considered the countervailing public interest in
release when making this decision and consider that it does not outweigh the need to withhold at
this time.
• 9(2)(b)(ii) where its release would likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position
of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information.
I have considered the public interest against the impact of disclosing commercially sensitive
information. However, I do not consider that this public interest outweighs the harm identified
above.
Health NZ worked with Auckland Co-op to at empt to resolve these complaints. The complaints
investigated caused Health NZ concern in relation to patient satisfaction and wellbeing. Further,
the complaints called into question whether Health NZ was achieving best public value for the
expenditure on patient transport services. The complaints were ongoing and could not be resolved
after having been escalated and the parties attending meetings to resolve the issues.
Over several months from June 2024, Health NZ exercised its right to engage with another Panel
Supplier to determine whether their offering would provide better outcomes for the population that
Health NZ serves, particularly relating to patient satisfaction and wellbeing, and overall best public
value for the expenditure on patient transport services.
Through meetings, presentations and email exchanges, it was determined that TTC invested in
driver and vehicle safety, had a closed loop system that enabled better reporting, was a very
responsive supplier, and provided overall better public value for expenditure on patient transport
services.
On 3 March 2025, Health NZ Contract Manager contacted Auckland Co-op to notify them of the
intent to discontinue taxi services for patient transfers (refer to Appendix 3).
Throughout March to June 2025, dialysis patients were notified of the change of service provider
to TTC (refer to Appendix 4 in which the acronym NTA means National Travel Assistance) and
action was taken by TTC and Health NZ to prepare for the transition from Auckland Co-op to TTC.
The transition took place over six weeks with each district transitioning approximately two weeks
apart.
Some information from Appendix 4 has been withheld under the following sections of the OIA:
• 9(2)(a) in order to protect the privacy of individuals.
The need to protect their privacy is not outweighed by the public interest in the release of this
information. Where information is withheld, I have considered the countervailing public interest in
release when making this decision and consider that it does not outweigh the need to withhold at
this time.
• 9(2)(b)(ii) where its release would likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position
of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information.
I have considered the public interest against the impact of disclosing commercially sensitive
information. However, I do not consider that this public interest outweighs the harm identified
above.
Again, my apologies for the delay in providing this response.
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. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Sasha Wood
Head of Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
