Tēnākoe, 

Thank you for contacting Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. 
This is an automatic reply to confirm that we have received your email. 

Depending on the nature of your request you may not receive a response for
up to 20 working days. 
We will try to respond to your query as quickly as possible.

Ngā mihi

Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora.

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Kia ora Anatoly, 

 

Thank you for your request of 11 November 2025 asking for the following
information under the OIA:

 

 1. Any internal audit reports, policy compliance reviews, or quality
assurance assessments conducted between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2024
relating to mental health and addiction services in Hauora a Toi Bay
of Plenty.
 2. Any reports, briefings, or correspondence to regional or national
leadership identifying risks, non-compliance, or overdue policy
reviews within this service area.
 3. The number and type of reported clinical incidents, adverse events, or
SAC-rated events associated with mental health and addiction services
from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 (please provide where available, a
high-level summary of themes or contributing factors identified
through incident reviews.)
 4. The number and percentage of referrals declined, not accepted, or
redirected by mental health and addiction services (please provide
where available - Age group, ethnicity, Reason for non-acceptance)

Your request as currently framed will be very difficult to meet without
substantial collation or research. Unless your request is amended, we may
have to refuse it under section 18(f) of the OIA which applies where the
information cannot be made available without substantial collation or
research.

* For part 1 of your request finding every internal audit report, policy
compliance review, or quality assurance assessment conducted over a
five-year period would involve substantial collation and research by
itself.
* Part 2 of your request would also involve searching through a large
amount of information and in order for Health NZ to respond to this
part of the request you would need to exclude correspondence and
provide a specific time frame for when you want the information.
* For parts 3 and 4 of your request we may be able to provide data.
However please note the OIA requires agencies to provide information
it holds unless there is good reason for refusing the request. There
is no obligation on an agency to form an opinion or create information
to answer a request such as by creating a high-level summary of
themes.

 

You could consider refining your request to be for only part 3 or part 4.

 

I also note that you have made two further separate requests to Health NZ
related to mental health services in the Bay of Plenty region on the same
day is this request. We are working on those requests and will respond to
them separately.

 

Please let me know by 28 November 2025, if you are willing to refine your
request to the suggestion above or in any other way?

 

If you have any questions, or need any further help to refine your request
you can contact us at [1][email address].

 

Ngā mihi

 

 

Hugh
Principal Advisor, Government Services 
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

 

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Kia ora Anatoly, 
 
Thank you for your request for information regarding oversight of mental
health and addiction services in the Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty on 11
November 2025. Please find attached our response to your request.
 
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][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 [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
 
Ngā mihi, 
 
 

Hugh
Principal Advisor, Government Services 
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

 
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
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References

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Tçnâ koe, Anatoly

 

Thank you for your email. 

 

Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.

 

Please note that the period from 25 December 2025 to 15 January 2026
(inclusive) is not counted as working days under the OIA. As a result, any
OIA requests received on or after 29 November 2025 may take longer to
process than usual, as the maximum response timeframe may extend into the
new year.

If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?

 

Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.

 

You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand

 

We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.

We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

 

Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora

Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message

References

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2. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agen...

Dear Anatoly

 

Thank you for your follow up request for information on 1 December 2025.
You asked:

 

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I respectfully request the
following information relating to the provision and oversight of mental
health and addiction services in the Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty region:

 

3. The number and type of reported clinical incidents, adverse events, or
SAC-rated events associated with mental health and addiction services from
1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

4. The number and percentage of referrals declined, not accepted, or
redirected by mental health and addiction services (please provide where
available - Age group, ethnicity, Reason for non-acceptance)

 

Under section 12 of the OIA, requests must be made with ‘due
particularity’ meaning they need enough detail to enable Health NZ to
identify and retrieve the information requested.  To help us respond
effectively, could you please consider clarifying/refining your request.
For example, clarify/refine:

 

o Which specific service you are seeking information about. There are
many MH&A services in BoP - [1]Mental Health & Addictions • Bay of
Plenty • Healthpoint. Please refine your request to a specific
service/s to avoid substantial collation and research required to
respond to your request should you seek information on all services.
o Which specific Severity Assessment Code  (SAC) rate you are interested
in. SAC has a 1-5 scoring based on a triaging of the actual outcome. 
For SAC 1 and SAC 2 events there is harm, and these are reportable
events.  SAC 3-5 events catch minor events like falls with no harm,
and near misses.
o Depending on the service/s you are interested in, confirm the date
range for question 4 – we have interpreted it to be the same as for
question 3 - 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

 

We appreciate you are under no obligation to amend your request, however,
requests that require significant collation may be refused under section
18(f) of the OIA. We want to work with you to avoid this and ensure we are
able to provide a response that best meets your needs. 

 

I would appreciate if you could please let us know before 4pm, 15 December
2025 whether you are prepared to amend or clarify your request and, if so,
how. 

We look forward to receiving your response. 

 

Regards

 

Connie

Government Services (OIA)

[2][email address]

 

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

 

 

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Tçnâ koe Anatoly,

 

Thank you for your follow up request dated 1 December 2025, regarding MHA
Oversight in Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty, under the Official Information
Act 1982 (OIA), in which you asked for:

 

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I respectfully request the
following information relating to the provision and oversight of mental
health and addiction services in the Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty region:

 

3. The number and type of reported clinical incidents, adverse events, or
SAC-rated events associated with mental health and addiction services from
1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

4. The number and percentage of referrals declined, not accepted, or
redirected by mental health and addiction services (please provide where
available – Age group, ethnicity, Reason for non-acceptance).

 

On 12 December 2025, we sought clarification of your request to enable
Health NZ to feasibly identify and retrieve the information requested but
did not receive a response.

 

As we advised in our clarification email, in order to respond to your
request, we would need to gather and review data from more than 128 mental
health and addiction services in the Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty region,
including multiple programmes and providers as listed on the Healthpoint
website at [1]Mental Health & Addictions • Bay of Plenty • Healthpoint).
This would involve sourcing information on clinical incidents, adverse
events, SAC-rated events, and referral outcomes, then breaking it down by
age group, ethnicity, and reason for non-acceptance. Completing this task
would require significant time and resources and would impact Health NZ’s
ability to carry out its core functions.

 

Therefore, after careful consideration, your request is refused under
section 18(f) of the OIA, as the information cannot be made available
without substantial collation and research.

 

Health NZ would be happy to consider a new, more specific request that
reduces the scope to a manageable level (for example, focusing on a
specific service or programme).

 

If you are not satisfied 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 calling 0800 802 602.

 

Regards

 

Danielle Coe

Government Services (OIA)

[2][email address]

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

 

 

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