Government vows to fix decades of delay with unified patient record
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
The Government is promising patients a single electronic medical record, so they will not have to retell different health professionals their medical problems over and over.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said a single Electronic Medical Record system would mean information could be shared between GPs, specialists and hospitals.
'This means patients often have to repeat their story multiple times, and clinicians waste valuable time on paperwork instead of treating patients.
'Imagine getting your cancer diagnosis and having your entire treatment journey coordinated through connected systems - no repeated tests, no lost referrals, no wondering what happens next,“ he said.
It was part of the Health Digital Investment Plan (HDIP) launched by Brown on Tuesday, which he called a 10-year pathway for funding to “shift from a state of high risk and inefficiency to a modern, unified and resilient digital health system”.
The plan sets to upgrade the country’s “fragmented, old and complex” digital system - one that frequently makes headlines.
Wellington Hospital staff have been dealing with frequent computer glitches and system crashes for months, which staff say is putting patient care at risk and extending wait times. Earlier, an IT glitch plunged Palmerston North hospital back into using pens, paper and whiteboards, which was kept from the public.
The electronic medical record was priority one in a list of prioritised investments in the first three years. Paying staff on time and accurately with minimal manual intervention was number two.
Brown said there would be funding for remote patient monitoring “to support earlier discharge, a national radiology system to prioritise urgent cases, and stronger cybersecurity to protect patient information”.
A Centre for Digital Modernisation of Health would be created and Health NZ has created ‘Health X’ for AI use.
One programme would be rolled out a month, Brown said, including AI scribe in ED for notes, remote patient monitoring for home recovery and augmenting x-ray processes.
In 2015, then Health Minister Jonathan Coleman launched a project to deliver electronic health records after missing a 2014 target to do it, following 10 years of discussion.
Labour criticised the delay at the time. But by 2018, under the new Labour Government, it still wasn’t rolled out. Problems under a separate health IT system raised doubts about the ability to roll out large IT projects.
Three years later in 2021, $400 million was allocated mostly to revive the integrated electronic health records plan, with another business case created for an upgrade system called ‘Hira’.
Hira was paused in 2024 prior to its second tranche, with less than a third of the work done and only one of the intended 15 services upgraded, RNZ reported.