Notifiable Disease Management System to significantly expand in 2026

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

Technology developed during the Covid-19 pandemic has been extended to support the measles outbreak response and will expand to cover around 70 notifiable diseases in 2026.

At the core is the Notifiable Disease Management System (NDMS), alongside the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR), Book My Vaccine, My Health Record, targeted text and email campaigns, public facing websites and a new integration which flags immunisation status in hospital clinical portals.

The NDMS evolved from the National Contact Tracing Solution and manages measles and Covid-19 cases through a platform accessible to public health teams nationwide.

Laboratory integration developed during the pandemic means the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science (formerly ESR) receives all measles notifications and sends them directly into the NDMS.

Ed Falloon, director applications and products, digital services, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora says the system will expand to cover around 70 notifiable diseases next year.

“We have been working for some time now to ensure we have the technology to support outbreaks of disease in an end-to-end process," Falloon tells eHealthNews.

"Our aim is to bring all the other notifiable diseases on board in one delivery next year.”

More than 330 public health users logged into NDMS on November 11, showing its wide use across the country as part of responding to the current measles outbreak.

"It allows public health teams to be able to share the load across public health and people to be able to access data immediately, rather than go to a central team for information," Falloon explains.

My Health Record allows people to view their immunisation records and Book My Vaccine means people can book a vaccination online.

He says real-time vaccination record access for hospitals is enabled through an API integration connecting the AIR to hospital clinical portals. This allows clinicians to view patient vaccination history directly within their existing systems. 

It is currently live in the northern region, Te Manawa Taki and Te Waipounamu with rollout to other districts underway.

Health NZ has also enabled contact tracers to view people’s vaccination status in NDMS. 

Te Whatu Ora site - info.health.nz - recently won the best plain language website award for the public sector and has recorded hundreds of thousands of views since late September when the measles outbreak began.

Hear Ed Falloon speak at Digital Health Week NZ this November 24-27 in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Register today.

Image: Ed Falloon, director applications and products, digital services, Health NZ

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