23 March 2026
Bruce Jones
[FYI request #33949 email]
Tēnā koe Bruce
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00201365
Thank you for your email on 4 March 2026, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora for the
following under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
Under the Official Information Act, I request information relating to the Health New
Zealand immunisation information line 0800 28 29 26 (available Monday to Friday,
8:30am – 5pm). For the period from 1 July last year to the most recent date with complete
data available, please provide the following information.
1) Call volumes and outcomes
For the period above, please provide:
1.
Total number of inbound calls received.
2.
Total number of calls answered.
3.
Total number of calls abandoned (caller disconnected before being answered).
4.
Total number of calls requiring transfer or escalation to a clinical person (and how
“escalation” is defined in reporting).
5.
Where recorded, the number of calls resulting in:
information provided only
referral/signposting to another service
booking/referral for vaccination services.
2) Daily/weekly breakdown (core operational dataset) Please provide a day-by-day
dataset (preferably as CSV or Excel) covering every calendar day from 1 July 2025 to
present, with the following fields for each day:
Date
Day of week
Total inbound calls received
Calls answered
Calls abandoned
Average speed of answer (ASA) / average wait time
Median wait time (if available)
Longest wait time for that day (maximum queue/wait time recorded)
Average call duration / handle time (if available)
If reporting is not available at a daily level, please provide the most granular level
available (e.g. weekly), and confirm the limitation.
3) Within-hours vs after-hours contact attempts Because the line is advertised as
operating Monday–Friday, 8:30am–5pm, please provide:
1.
Number of inbound calls during operating hours.
2.
Number of inbound calls outside operating hours, including a breakdown (if
available) by:
before 8:30am
after 5:00pm
weekends / public holidays
3.
For after-hours calls: what happens to those calls (e.g. message, diversion,
voicemail, disconnect), and whether any are captured for callback.
4) Workforce composition (including ethnicity) For staff answering calls on this service
during the above period, please provide:
1.
Total number of staff (headcount) and FTE supporting the line.
2.
Role mix (e.g. call handler, nurse advisor, clinician).
3.
Ethnicity breakdown of staff answering calls.
4.
The location(s) from which calls are answered.
5) Training and competency requirements (immunisation-specific) Please provide:
1.
The initial training provided to staff answering calls (outline of modules and
duration).
2.
Any immunisation-specific training (e.g. National Immunisation Schedule,
contraindications, catch-up schedules, vaccine safety conversations, cold chain questions,
etc.).
3.
Any required qualifications and/or minimum competency standards for cal handlers.
4.
Ongoing refresher training requirements and frequency.
5.
The knowledge base / clinical guidance resources used by staff (e.g. internal
scripts, IMAC guidance, internal SOPs).
6) Clinical escalation processes and capacity Please provide:
1.
The escalation model (when/why a call is escalated and to whom).
2.
The professional role(s) of staff providing clinical escalation (e.g. RN, NP, GP,
pharmacist).
3.
Total number of escalations over the period, and (if available) daily counts (or
include in the daily dataset requested above).
4.
Any escalation-related performance monitoring (e.g. time-to-clinical response).
7) Service performance targets and reporting Please provide:
1.
Any service level targets used to monitor performance (e.g. answer time,
abandonment rate, queue thresholds).
2.
Any routine internal performance reports or dashboards used to monitor this phone
line (monthly/weekly), for the period requested.
Response
Appendix 1 sets out our decision on the release of documents within scope of questions 1-3, and
5. These documents are attached as
Appendix 2 to 6.
The Immunisation Information Line workforce consists of eight permanent staff and three FTE
supporting the line and occupying the role of customer service representatives. This contact centre
comprises of staff from a variety of ethnicity groups, including European, NZ European, Māori,
Afrikaners and Pacifica. Further information about this team is withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the
OIA to protect privacy. In making this decision, we have considered the low public interest in this
information and considered that it does not outweigh the need to withhold.
The calls are answered from Whanganui, and the training covers an outline of the Book My
Vaccine call line and support model alongside the general training across all our dif erent services
and supports. We do not train staff on clinical aspects to immunisation. However, we do ensure
that agents are familiar with Aotearoa Immunisation Register, and immunisation claims as a
background, purely from an administrative perspective. Al contact centre staff are trained to
Contact Centre Level 3 or have equivalent experience with customer service. We hold monthly call
evaluations to ensure quality advice and standards are maintained; this is an indicator if refresher
training is required.
We do not provide clinical advice. This line is aimed on supporting people to book vaccinations and
is non-clinical. If we receive a call that requires clinical advice these are referred to the appropriate
clinical area (Referrals to Healthline for Consumer Clinical Enquiries, Referral to IMAC for Health
Professional Clinical Enquiries).
Regarding service performance targets and reporting, the service level for this line is 80/20 – 80%
of calls answered within 20 seconds with abandonment rate <5%. We do not have a specific
dashboard solely for monitoring this line. We have high level Telephony platform dashboard
reporting which focuses on the call volumes and handling statistics across all our contact centre
queues. This dashboard contains a subset of the statistics provided in 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
Sara Freitag
Manager, Government Services
Appendix 1
Date
Title / Contents
Decision on release
HNZ00201365 Appendix 2
(Core Operational Dataset)
HNZ00201365 Appendix 3
(Open Hours vs After
Hours)
23 March 2026 HNZ00201365 Appendix 4
Released in full.
(Queue wrap up detail)
HNZ00201365 Appendix 5
(Queue performance detail
– Weekly)
HNZ00201365 Appendix 6
(
Knowledge Base)
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
