Kia ora Sam,

 

 

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), received by the Ministry of Health on 8 January 2026. You requested:

 

"1. Any analysis, clinical guidance, or technical standards regarding
connectivity requirements for telehealth service delivery, including:

 

- Bandwidth, latency, and reliability requirements for video consultations

- Network performance requirements for remote diagnostics or specialist
consultations

- Whether different connectivity technologies (fibre, fixed wireless,
satellite) meet clinical telehealth requirements

- Any assessment of service quality differences affecting clinical care
delivery

 

2. Any assessment of whether current rural connectivity infrastructure
adequately supports telehealth objectives, including:

 

- Whether rural residents have access to connectivity suitable for
telehealth participation

- Service reliability concerns affecting appointment completion or
clinical outcomes

- Cost barriers preventing rural residents from obtaining
telehealth-suitable connectivity

 

3. Any advice to Ministers regarding health equity implications of rural
residents depending on particular connectivity types for health service
access, including:

 

- Whether connectivity limitations create disparities in care access or
quality

- Assessment of telehealth viability in areas with limited connectivity
options

- Whether rural health strategy adequately considers connectivity
infrastructure as health infrastructure

 

4. Any assessment of health service continuity risks in isolated rural
areas where:

 

- Medical practices, pharmacies, aged care facilities, and patients' homes
depend on a single or shared connectivity provider or technology platform
for telehealth access

- Traditional terrestrial communications infrastructure (such as copper
telephone lines) has been withdrawn, eliminating backup options for
phone-based consultations or emergency calls

- A single-point-of-failure scenario exists where connectivity disruption
would simultaneously affect GP clinics' ability to conduct telehealth,
patients' ability to access virtual care, prescription systems, and
emergency services coordination

- Whether health service planning includes contingency arrangements for
connectivity outages in communities with no alternative infrastructure

 

5. Any contingency planning or risk assessment for scenarios where:

 

- Primary connectivity provider becomes unavailable during health
emergencies or natural disasters

- Service degradation affects critical remote consultations, monitoring
systems, or prescription platforms

- Rural residents lack alternative connectivity options for urgent health
service access

- Entire communities lose connectivity simultaneously, affecting both
healthcare facilities and patients

 

6. Data or analysis on:

 

- Telehealth utilisation rates in rural areas compared to urban areas

- Whether connectivity is identified as a barrier to telehealth access in
rural communities

- Patient or provider feedback regarding connectivity quality affecting
care delivery

- Any clinical incidents, missed appointments, or service disruptions
attributed to connectivity issues

- Communities identified as having single-provider dependency with no
terrestrial backup for health services

 

7. Any assessment of health service delivery risks if rural connectivity
market structure changes result in:

 

- Reduced provider choice, limiting patients' and healthcare facilities'
connectivity options

- Price increases affecting affordability of adequate connectivity for
vulnerable patients or small medical practices

- Service quality concerns affecting real-time video consultations, remote
monitoring, or emergency telemedicine

- Elimination of terrestrial alternatives, creating sole dependency on
satellite solutions with potential latency, reliability or security
limitations"

 

The reference number for your request is H2026077361. As required under
the Act, the Ministry will endeavour to respond to your request no later
than 20 working days after the day your request was
received: [1]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/.  

 

Please be advised that due dates for requests received on 27 November 2025
onwards will take into account the summer holiday period (25 December 2025
to 15 January 2026). Please refer to this guide for an explanation of
the [2]statutory obligations under the Official Information Act 1982.

If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch ([3][email address]).

 

 

Ngā mihi,
 
OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora
 

M[4]inistry of Health information releases

 

 

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Kia ora,

 

Thank you for your patience as we have processed your request.

We are writing to you pursuant to section 15(1)(a) of the Act to advise
you that a decision has been made on your request, however more time is
required to administratively process the information for release. At this
stage, we can advise you that the Ministry does not hold information for
the following parts of your request. These are therefore refused under
section 18(g)(i) of the Act. Please note that in making this decision, a
transfer of these queries to Health New Zealand had also been considered
under section 14(b)(ii) of the Act:

 

 1. Any analysis, clinical guidance, or technical
standards regarding connectivity requirements for telehealth service
delivery, including: 

o Bandwidth, latency, and reliability requirements for video
consultations 
o Network performance requirements for remote diagnostics or specialist
consultations 
o Whether different connectivity technologies (fibre, fixed wireless,
satellite) meet clinical telehealth requirements 
o Any assessment of service quality differences affecting clinical care
delivery 

 2. Any assessment of whether current rural connectivity infrastructure
adequately supports telehealth objectives, including: 

o Whether rural residents have access to connectivity suitable for
telehealth participation 
o Service reliability concerns affecting appointment completion or
clinical outcomes 
o Cost barriers preventing rural residents from obtaining
telehealth-suitable connectivity 

 4. Any assessment of health service continuity risks in isolated rural
areas where: 

o Medical practices, pharmacies, aged care facilities, and patients'
homes depend on a single or shared connectivity provider or technology
platform for telehealth access. 
o Traditional terrestrial communications infrastructure (such as copper
telephone lines) has been withdrawn, eliminating backup options for
phone-based consultations or emergency calls 
o A single-point-of-failure scenario exists where connectivity
disruption would simultaneously affect GP clinics' ability to conduct
telehealth, patients' ability to access virtual care, prescription
systems, and emergency services coordination 
o Whether health service planning includes contingency arrangements for
connectivity outages in communities with no alternative
infrastructure 

 5. Any contingency planning or risk assessment for scenarios where: 

o Primary connectivity provider becomes unavailable during health
emergencies or natural disasters 
o Service degradation affects critical remote consultations, monitoring
systems, or prescription platforms 
o Rural residents lack alternative connectivity options for urgent
health service access 
o Entire communities lose connectivity simultaneously, affecting both
healthcare facilities and patients 

 6. Data or analysis on: 

o Telehealth utilisation rates in rural areas compared to urban areas 
o Whether connectivity is identified as a barrier to telehealth access
in rural communities 
o Patient or provider feedback regarding connectivity quality affecting
care delivery 
o Any clinical incidents, missed appointments, or service disruptions
attributed to connectivity issues 
o Communities identified as having single-provider dependency with no
terrestrial backup for health services

Information relating to health services and programmes delivered by Health
New Zealand, including emergency management, is available on Health New
Zealand’s website which may be of interest to you:
[1]https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/health-se....
Should you wish to require information from their agency, they can be
contacted via [2][email address]

 

Turning to the remainder of your request:

 3. Any advice to Ministers regarding health equity implications of rural
residents depending on particular connectivity types for health
service access, including: 

•      Whether connectivity limitations create disparities in care access
or quality 

•      Assessment of telehealth viability in areas with limited
connectivity options 

•      Whether rural health strategy adequately considers connectivity
infrastructure as health infrastructure 

The Ministry is preparing information in scope of this part of your
request for release. We endeavour to provide this to you as soon as
practicable.

 

 7. Any assessment of health service delivery risks if rural connectivity
market structure changes result in: 

o Reduced provider choice, limiting patients' and healthcare facilities'
connectivity options 
o Price increases affecting affordability of adequate connectivity for
vulnerable patients or small medical practices 
o Service quality concerns affecting real-time video consultations,
remote monitoring, or emergency telemedicine 
o Elimination of terrestrial alternatives, creating sole dependency on
satellite solutions with potential latency, reliability or security
limitations 

At this stage, no such information has been identified to be in scope of
this part of your request. As such, it will likely be refused under
section 18(g)(i) of the Act, as the information requested is not held by
the Ministry and there are no grounds for believing it is held by another
agency subject to the Act. If it is determined that there is in fact
further material in scope, this shall be included in the substantive
response.

We apologise for any inconvenience or frustration caused by the delay in
the substantive response to your request.

Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [3][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.

Ngā mihi,

 

 

OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora

 

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/health-se...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]