Clinical Governance
DOGE made this Official Information request to Ministry of Social Development
Currently waiting for a response from Ministry of Social Development, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: DOGE
Tēnā koe,
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request:
Any clinical governance framework, policy, or structure document that describes how MSD ensures clinical decisions are made appropriately, any quality assurance processes for medical-related decisions, who has clinical accountability for decisions that involve medical assessments, and whether MSD has sought external clinical governance advice in the past five years.
The current number of Designated Health Practitioners contracted to provide second opinions, their registration types (medical practitioners, nurse practitioners, psychologists), the regions or areas they cover, the reimbursement rates paid for second opinion assessments, and any information about ethnic or demographic diversity of the panel.
For each calendar year from 2020 to 2025: the number of second opinion assessments requested through the Designated Health Practitioner pathway, the number completed, the outcomes (original decision confirmed/overturned), the benefit types these related to, and the ethnicity of clients who accessed this pathway.
Any correspondence between MSD and the Medical Council of New Zealand regarding: the scope of practice appropriate for medical staff employed by MSD, whether non-examining clinicians can appropriately override treating practitioner assessments, and clinical governance arrangements at MSD. For the period 1 January 2020 to present.
I look forward to your response within 20 working days as required by the Act.
Ngā mihi
DOGE
From: OIA_Requests (MSD)
Ministry of Social Development
IN-CONFIDENCE
Tēnā koe Maori DOGE
Thank you for your emails received 15 December 2025, under the Official Information Act 1982. Your requests have been forwarded to the appropriate officials at National Office to respond.
The information you have requested may contain the names and contact details of our staff. Please let us know by 18 December 2025 whether you require these names and contact details. We will need to consult our staff before deciding whether we can release this information, and this will take a bit more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you do not require staff names and contact details.
Please note that over the holiday period, there are three weeks that are not classified as working days. In accordance with Section 2 of the Official Information Act 1982, this period is 25 December 2025 to 15 January 2026 (inclusive). As such, OIA requests received on or after 27 November 2025 may take longer than you might expect. For more information on the latest date you can expect a response, please find the OIA Calculator on the Ombudsman website here: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agenc....
Ngā manaakitanga,
Official Information Team | Ministerial and Executive Services
Ministry of Social Development
Our Purpose:
We help New Zealanders to be safe, strong and independent
Ko ta mātou he whakamana tangata kia tū haumaru, kia tū kaha, kia tū motuhake
-----Original Message-----
From: DOGE <[FOI #33269 email]>
Sent: Monday, 15 December 2025 11:00 am
To: OIA_Requests (MSD) <[MSD request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Clinical Governance
[You don't often get email from [FOI #33269 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
Tēnā koe,
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request:
Any clinical governance framework, policy, or structure document that describes how MSD ensures clinical decisions are made appropriately, any quality assurance processes for medical-related decisions, who has clinical accountability for decisions that involve medical assessments, and whether MSD has sought external clinical governance advice in the past five years.
The current number of Designated Health Practitioners contracted to provide second opinions, their registration types (medical practitioners, nurse practitioners, psychologists), the regions or areas they cover, the reimbursement rates paid for second opinion assessments, and any information about ethnic or demographic diversity of the panel.
For each calendar year from 2020 to 2025: the number of second opinion assessments requested through the Designated Health Practitioner pathway, the number completed, the outcomes (original decision confirmed/overturned), the benefit types these related to, and the ethnicity of clients who accessed this pathway.
Any correspondence between MSD and the Medical Council of New Zealand regarding: the scope of practice appropriate for medical staff employed by MSD, whether non-examining clinicians can appropriately override treating practitioner assessments, and clinical governance arrangements at MSD. For the period 1 January 2020 to present.
I look forward to your response within 20 working days as required by the Act.
Ngā mihi
DOGE
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From: DOGE
Dear OIA_Requests (MSD),
I submitted this request as "Doge."
Your response refers to me as "Māori DOGE."
I did not identify as Māori. I did not use that name. You have invented an ethnic identity for me and published it on a public transparency platform.
This is racial profiling of an anonymous OIA requester.
I want to understand the racism embedded in this decision:
What about my request led you to assume I am Māori?
Do you believe that seeking government accountability is a Māori characteristic?
Is it MSD's position that only Māori would ask difficult questions of government agencies?
Does MSD train staff to assign ethnic identities to anonymous requesters? If not, what prompted this individual decision?
Would you have assumed a requester named "Doge" was Pākehā if the request had been less critical of government?
The implication of your response is that holding government to account is a "Māori thing" - that a request focused on transparency and accountability must have come from a Māori person. This is a racist assumption. It diminishes Māori as perpetual complainers while simultaneously suggesting that non-Māori New Zealanders don't care about good governance.
You have taken an anonymous submission and branded it with an assumed ethnicity. This is not a minor administrative error. This is an agency revealing how it categorises and stereotypes the people it is meant to serve.
This response is now part of the public record. I expect a formal explanation for why MSD decided to racially profile an anonymous requester exercising their legal right to official information.
Regarding staff names - I do not require them. Process the original request without further delay.
If I do not receive a satisfactory response within 2 business days I will escalate this complaint to the ombudsman.
Yours sincerely,
DOGE
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
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