Kia ora,

I am making this Official Information Act request as part of ADHDInquiryNZ, a grassroots, unfunded, and non-partisan volunteer initiative supporting a public petition calling for a Parliamentary inquiry into systemic harm to people with ADHD in Aotearoa. This request seeks clarity on Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora’s role in implementing recent ADHD-related changes, including the New Zealand Clinical Principles Framework for ADHD (2025) and the February 2026 changes that expand ADHD prescribing to GPs and nurse practitioners. The information gathered from this and related requests will help identify system-wide patterns and will be provided to the Petitions Committee when the petition period closes.

Please treat this as a request for official information under the OIA. I understand Te Whatu Ora’s obligation to assist under s 13 and that a decision should be made within 20 working days of receipt (with any transfer to occur within 10 working days). If any part of this request requires clarification, please let me know no later than 5 working days from receipt. This request is confined to information held by Te Whatu Ora; please do not transfer for commentary.

Timeframe: This request covers the period from 1 July 2022 (establishment of Te Whatu Ora) to the date this request is received.

Format: Where datasets, tables, or modelling outputs are provided, please supply them in machine-readable format (CSV or original spreadsheet file) with accompanying data dictionaries or field definitions.

Scope clarification: To reduce unnecessary work, I am not seeking internal email chains, drafts, or personal information unless they are the sole record of the substantive information described.

1. Assignment of responsibility
1.1 Please provide any documents (for example, letters, memoranda, governance papers, briefings, or agreements) in which:

-Manatū Hauora;
-Medsafe;
-Pharmac; or
-any other agency

assigns, requests, or describes a role for Te Whatu Ora in:

(a) implementing the New Zealand Clinical Principles Framework for ADHD (2025); and/or
(b) preparing for or implementing the February 2026 changes allowing GPs and nurse practitioners to diagnose and treat ADHD without specialist sign-off.

1.2 Please confirm whether Te Whatu Ora has been formally assigned responsibility for any aspect of:
-implementing or operationalising the Framework;
-workforce or service preparation for the February 2026 prescribing changes;
-providing guidance or support to GPs or nurse practitioners;
-monitoring the impact of these changes; or
-system governance or oversight for ADHD care.

If such responsibility has been assigned internally within Te Whatu Ora, please provide the documents that record this.

If no such documents exist, please confirm this.

2. Implementation planning and service delivery
Please provide any documents describing Te Whatu Ora’s planning or decisions relating to implementation of the Framework or the February 2026 prescribing changes, including:

-service-delivery models or proposed pathways for ADHD in primary or specialist settings;
-any national or regional ADHD pathways, models of care, or service-design documents (draft or final);
-analysis of risks, dependencies, or barriers to implementation;
-decisions relating to the scope of Te Whatu Ora-funded ADHD services.

If no such documents exist, please confirm this.

3. Workforce training, competence, and support

3.1 Please provide any documents that describe Te Whatu Ora’s role (if any) in supporting or preparing the workforce for the ADHD prescribing changes, including GPs, nurse practitioners, primary-care teams, mental-health teams, or specialist services.

3.2 Please provide any documents describing:
-ADHD-related training, capability-building, or professional-development initiatives (planned or implemented);
-Te Whatu Ora’s engagement with the Royal New Zealand College of GPs, Nurse Practitioners NZ, or other professional bodies in relation to ADHD training or competence.

3.3 Please provide any documents discussing how GP or nurse practitioner competence in ADHD assessment and diagnosis will be determined, verified, or supported in practice from February 2026.

If no such documents exist, please confirm this.

4. Funding, commissioning, and access to services

Please provide any documents that:
-describe commissioning approaches or funding decisions relating to ADHD assessment, treatment, or follow-up;
-outline whether adult ADHD services will or will not be publicly funded, and the rationale for any decisions;
-analyse projected demand for ADHD services due to the February 2026 changes, and any planned commissioning or funding responses.

If no such documents exist, please confirm this.

5. Monitoring, equity, and system risk

Please provide any documents describing:
-how Te Whatu Ora intends to monitor the impact of the February 2026 changes;
-any monitoring or reporting relating to ADHD outcomes, access, unmet need, wait times, or service use;
-any analysis of equity impacts for Māori, Pacific, or Rainbow+/Takatāpui populations;
-any recorded concerns, system risks, or mitigation plans relating to workforce capacity, clinical safety, or regional variation under the new prescribing settings.

If no such documents exist, please confirm this.

6. Communications and sector guidance

Please provide:
-any national guidance, bulletins, or communications issued by Te Whatu Ora to primary care, NGOs, specialist services, or locality networks regarding the Framework or the 2026 prescribing changes;
-any documents describing how Te Whatu Ora has communicated expected roles, responsibilities, or pathways for GPs and nurse practitioners.

If no such documents exist, please confirm this.

7. Absence of information

If Te Whatu Ora does not hold:
-documents assigning responsibility;
-implementation or service-delivery plans;
-workforce or training materials;
-funding or commissioning documents;
-monitoring or equity plans; or
-communications to the sector
relating to the Framework or the February 2026 changes, please confirm this.

If any relevant work is recorded as “proposed,” “paused,” “deferred,” or “under development,” please provide those documents where held.

Ngā mihi,
Elspeth Baker-Vevers

Kia ora Peteli,

Thanks for your message.

Just to clarify, this FYI.org.nz request (Ref: 36 – Te Whatu Ora’s role in implementing the ADHD Clinical Principles Framework and February 2026 prescribing changes) is a separate Official Information Act request, dealing specifically with Te Whatu Ora’s responsibilities in relation to:

-the New Zealand Clinical Principles Framework for ADHD (2025); and
-the February 2026 prescribing changes for ADHD medications.

Each of the ADHD-related OIAs was intentionally separated, as each request covers a different subject area and needs to be tracked independently for accessibility and clarity. While they all relate to the broader theme of ADHD, they are not on the same topics and therefore do not meet the threshold for consolidation under s18A(2).

For accessibility, transparency, and proper tracking of each topic, please keep each request, this one included, as a distinct OIA with its own reference number.

I am happy to refine the scope of this specific request if needed, and I understand that some information may not be held, confirmation of non-existence is also helpful for identifying system-level gaps.

Regarding the other ADHD-related OIAs, I’m happy to clarify or refine their scopes, but would address these on their individual threads on FYI.org.nz. Only one OIA was sent via email, which relates to internal ADHD support.

Ngā mihi,
Elspeth Baker-Vevers