Shared Digital Health Record

Your health information where and when it’s needed

Health New Zealand is expanding the information available to the doctors and other healthcare providers you see, no matter where you are in the country. This is being done through a new health information connector called the Shared Digital Health Record. The Shared Digital Health Record will securely receive your health information from our general practice IT system and make it available to other clinicians when they are treating you.

Having this information will help healthcare providers give you the best treatment and care, where and when you need it. For example, if you’re away from home and need urgent medical care, the doctor treating you will be able to see your important health information – such your allergies, medical conditions and vital signs.

Health information is already shared in some regions – Health NZ is making it available nationwide through the Shared Digital Health Record.

Information to be shared

The health information collected from this general practice and shared will include:

·         Your allergies and intolerances – for example, an allergy to penicillin.

·         Your medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes and other long-term conditions.

·         Your vital signs like your temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.

This will include information collected about you previously, unless you choose to limit or block sharing.

Other information, such as your appointment details and consultation notes, are not included at this stage but may be shared in the future.

Information from Health NZ national datasets will also be shared through the Shared Digital Health Record. This will include medications, immunisations, diagnostic information from laboratories and scans or x-rays; as well as hospital information like referrals, clinical letters and discharge summaries.

Parent or legal guardian of a young person aged 12 to 15?

Please tell your child about this service and its benefits so they are able to make a choice about taking part.

Young people aged 16 or over

If you’ve received this message on behalf of your child, and they are 16 years or over, please share it with them so they can make an informed decision about sharing their information.

Your choices and what you need to do

You don’t need to do anything if you’re happy for your health information from this general practice to be shared.

Your information from this general practice is expected to be shared through the Shared Digital Health Record from mid‑2027. Your immunisations and medications data, which comes from Health NZ national datasets, is expected to be shared earlier – towards the end of 2026.

The visual below shows the actions to take if you want to limit sharing or stop your information from being shared. You can change your sharing preferences at any time. No matter what you decide, you’ll still receive healthcare.

You can find out more about these options by going to the Health NZ website healthnz.govt.nz/SharedRecords or by calling Health NZ on freephone 0800 144 751.

For more info, talk to us at Browns Bay Medical Centre or see healthnz.govt.nz/SharedRecords

You can change your sharing preferences at any time. No matter what you decide, you’ll still receive healthcare.