About the Ministry of Health

Directorates

The Ministry is organised into the following directorates to reflect a ‘whole of system’ focus on health and disability support services. This includes policy development, implementation and monitoring, and engagement with the health sector at all levels. The structure is designed to ensure the Ministry can lead improved system performance to provide value for money, and ultimately contribute to healthier New Zealanders.

Health and Disability Systems Strategy Directorate

Deborah Roche, Deputy Director-General

The Health and Disability Systems Strategy Directorate is responsible for providing strategic and whole-of-system perspectives and advice on the development of the health and disability system. The Directorate is responsible for providing medium- to long-term advice on key strategic health, public health and disability issues to achieve better health and reduced inequalities. This includes providing strategic policy advice on:

long-term strategic planning for and with the sector (eg, the New Zealand Health Strategy, the New Zealand Disability Strategy), including modelling and forecasting the health and disability needs of future populations and the implications for future health and disability services
the prioritisation of expenditure within Vote Health, across-sector expenditure including strategic advice on sector productivity measures, value for money and oversight of work examining the cost effectiveness of priorities and interventions
strategic issues relating to the medium- to long-term development of the infrastructure of the health sector, which will enable future provision (eg, workforce, frameworks for capital planning and prioritisation) and working with the Information Directorate on strategic information developments (eg, key directions)
the medium- to long-term institutional development of the health sector (eg, developing and retesting criteria for devolution, structure and high-level content of key documents that provide the strategic settings for health service delivery, such as the Nationwide Service Framework)
the long-term wellbeing of specific population groups in society (eg, Pacific, low-income or vulnerable communities), with a focus on the systemic, strategic and intersectoral settings that will reduce inequalities
scanning for, participating in and providing advice on important inter-sectoral policy interventions or issues that are likely to have an impact on improving health outcomes and the implications for the medium- to long-term development of the health sector
strengthening the Ministry and sector knowledge capability (eg, , health needs analysis, research and evaluation) to inform medium- to longterm planning in the sector
management of relationships and secretariat support to committees with responsibilities to look at the medium- to long-term systemic issues in the health and disability sectors
the administration of New Zealand’s international obligations
designing regulatory frameworks that provide public assurance of quality, safety and the certification of appropriate professionals and health organisations.

Māori Health Directorate

Teresa Wall, Deputy Director-General

The Māori Health Directorate is the primary advisor on Māori health and is responsible for advising on:

the implementation of section 4 of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 in order to recognise and respect the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in the health and disability sector
responding to Waitangi Tribunal claims in collaboration with Sector Accountability and Funding
the implementation of He Korowai Oranga and Whakatātaka Tuarua
monitoring the development and implementation of Māori health action plans in DHBs with the Sector Accountability and Funding Directorate
supporting the Ministry and sector implementation of other health and disability strategies for Māori in conjunction with the Population Health and Sector Capability and Innovation Directorates
developing policy settings to support Māori participation in the sector at all levels (in conjunction with the Health and Disability Systems Strategy Directorate, it will lead the Reducing Inequalities work programme across the Ministry).

Population Health Directorate

Janice Wilson, Deputy Director-General

The Population Health Directorate is responsible for providing advice on the policy settings and operational frameworks that determine eligibility and access to publicly funded health, public health and disability services. The Directorate is responsible for ensuring that the strategic intentions of the Government are translated into the policy settings that incentivise and guide the operational delivery of services by advising on:

the services, policy settings and frameworks that ensure access to publicly funded health and disability services for eligible populations, reflecting the Minister’s priorities and the Government’s intentions
how current service-specific settings can better influence improved health and reduced inequalities, particularly for vulnerable groups (eg, children and youth, people with disabilities, and people with mental health conditions)
policy settings that work across the continuum of care and from a whole-of system perspective to strengthen and incentivise service integration across prevention, primary and community, and secondary/tertiary care for key population health priorities
the implications for service-specific policy of the intersectoral interface across government
population health approaches (eg, chronic disease, communicable disease, environmental health, primary health care, mental health, disability and compulsory care)
design regulations, set standards and advise on quality assurance
services that may fit new criteria for devolution in collaboration with Health and Disability Systems Strategy Directorate
evaluating and reviewing the implementation of programmes to support policy development.

Sector Accountability and Funding Directorate

Anthony Hill, Deputy Director-General

The Sector Accountability and Funding Directorate is responsible for funding, monitoring and ensuring the sector is compliant with accountability expectations. It ensures compliance with health regulation by Health and other sectors, such as local government. It advises on the current performance of the sector, areas where targeted effort may be required, and trends in performance indicators and service expectations by:

managing the distribution of funding to Crown-owned entities (eg, DHBs) and the accountability arrangements for the use of public resources, and advising on the funding arrangements (eg, interdistrict flows, maintenance of service frameworks, national pricing)
developing and implementing the funding mechanisms and the accountability framework (eg, district annual planning, reporting and monitoring processes) across the whole system, including public health, mental health and primary health implementation to achieve better health and reduced inequalities
actively monitoring and advising on the financial and non-financial performance of health Crown entities and the Ministry’s role as direct funder of health and disability services, providing strategic advice on trends in performance against target indicators, and identifying opportunities for improvement and service reviews
working with the sector to implement government policy on elective services
managing relationships with the governance and management of Crown-owned entities, including Board appointments, support for good corporate governance practice (including induction)and co-ordination of DHB elections
managing the assessment of sector capital business cases against agreed capital business planning frameworks
providing advice on industrial relations across the sector
reviewing the prioritisation and future location of service analysis and project management capability with the ELT, agree on a cross-organisation business plan that prioritises focused resource on the organisation’s priorities
reviewing the account manager function and enhancing the ability to support high-level relationship management, ownership and purchase monitoring at regional and national levels
administering the Ministry’s regulatory powers to coerce and/or enforce statutory compliance, including audit, certification processes, consolidating and building the capability and capacity to investigate, examine risks and oversee the consequences of failure or breach of those requirements.

Sector Capability and Innovation Directorate

Margie Apa, Deputy Director-General

The Sector Capability and Innovation Directorate is responsible for working proactively with the sector to support implementation, build capability and share innovations across the sector that support operationalising the Minister’s strategic priorities. The Sector Capability and Innovation Directorate will:

support the sector’s implementation of the Government’s health and disability strategies and key priorities, and the improvements in related health sector targets
identify, with Sector Accountability and Funding (guided by monitoring intelligence) and with wider sector engagement, opportunities for improved performance against indicators
share best practice, innovations, new evidence and/or learning across the sector.

This Directorate responds to the sector’s desire for a centre of performance improvement and innovation that promotes and drives implementation of best practice, shares learning across the sector, and provides an avenue for clinical and professional leadership to be shared across the system. This will occur where there is:

joint agreement and negotiation of work programmes and areas of emphasis for improvement
flexible models of working that clarify where the Ministry is the lead, where there is joint leadership between Ministry and DHBs, and where DHBs are leading and the Ministry supports
clear separation from monitoring functions to make transparent the roles of the Ministry.

Information Directorate

Alan Hesketh, Deputy Director-General

The Information Directorate is responsible for providing leadership and consolidating the capacity to manage the sector’s information systems. The Directorate is responsible for developing, maintaining and ensuring access to all of the key information databases held by the Ministry.

The Directorate incorporates the former New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS) and HealthPAC business units and the Ministry’s Information Technology Shared Services (ITS) and is responsible for the implementation of the National Systems Development (NSD) Programme.

Important Notice (6 Nov 08): Change to NZHIS and HealthPAC Email Addresses

Email addresses for all Information Directorate staff are now of the format
firstname_lastname@moh.govt.nz. Please use this format.

The old style email address format firstname_lastname@nzhis.govt.nz and firstname.lastname@hpac.govt.nz no longer work.

Emails sent to the old addresses will not reach intended recipients and senders will receive a non-delivery notification.

Services previously carried out by NZHIS and HealthPAC continue uninterrupted predominantly through the newly formed Sector Services Group within the Information Directorate. This Group is responsible for providing services such as claims and agreement management, payments to providers, data collection, and data release.

Please note: While we plan to update our websites, information about national health systems and collections, clinical coding, statistical publications and how to obtain data continues to be available on http://www.nzhis.govt.nz.

The Information Directorate manages all IT infrastructure for the Ministry of Health. A service-level agreement will be established to define the information support needs required for the Ministry of Health as distinct from sector information requirements.

The Directorate works with the Health and Disability Systems Strategy Directorate to provide strategic advice to the Director-General and the ELT on the medium to long-term information needs and infrastructure of the sector that will meet future health service and population health needs.

The Directorate services the Health Information Strategy Advisory Committee (HISAC) and works with the Committee to implement the 12 Action Zones of the Health Information Strategy for New Zealand.

Health and Disability National Services Directorate

Geraldine Woods, Deputy Director-General

Directorate purpose and responsibilities
Health and Disability National Services improves the well-being and health of New Zealanders by planning for and buying health and disability services. We participate in priority setting, identify and describe relevant and appropriate services and manage the relationships and contracts with the organisations who deliver these services. We also administer and provide advice on some legislation such as the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003.

We fund services in:

Clinical Training - post-graduate health and disability workforce development.
Disability Support Services such as Home and Community Support Services, Respite, Carer Support, Child Development Services, Community Residential Services, Disability Information Services, Equipment and Modification Services and Needs Assessment and Service Coordination services.
Population Screening Services through the National Screening Unit such as BreastScreen Aotearoa, National Cervical Screening, Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, Antenatal HIV Screening and Newborn Metabolic Screening programmes.
Public and Personal Health Services such as immunisation, tobacco control, Well Child Services and Healthline.
National Ambulance Sector Office - a joint programme with ACC planning for and funding emergency services.

Corporate Services Directorate

Andrew Bridgman, Deputy Director-General and Deputy Chief Executive

The Corporate Services Directorate is responsible for ensuring that directorates have the resources and corporate systems and processes to control and expedite the management of their businesses. The following direct reports provide the range of services that support line managers:

Finance (including Vote Analyst teams)– monitors the financial control in the organisation, and the management of Ministry assets and facilities
Legal – provides the Director-General and the organisation with legal advice to ensure the Ministry is complying with its statutory and regulatory functions and supports legislation and regulation drafting
Communications – manages the internal and external communication needs of the organisation, including publications and the management of media relations
Government Relations – ensures the Ministry complies with our parliamentary obligations in relation to Ministerials, co-ordinating OIA requests and the appointment of Committees
Corporate Capability and Transition - completing the implementation of the recommendations of the Review of the Ministry of Health (December 2006)
Director-General Support - is responsible for co-ordinating the business of the Director-General through the following functions:
- secretariat support for the ELT meetings
- secretariat support for the Leadership Forum and Professional Advisory Group
- co-ordinating liaison with offices of the Minister
- special projects, as agreed with the Director-General
Corporate Human Resource Services and organisation development support.

Risk and Assurance Group

Steve Brazier, Group Manager

The Risk and Assurance Group is responsible for providing independent advice to the Director-General on the strategic and operational risks in the Ministry and advising on actions and/or processes that would provide assurance that risks are being managed.