Shared Digital Health Record April 2026 Update

SECTOR UPDATE - Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora

The Shared Digital Health Record team recently undertook a ‘pulse check’ of people’s views on information sharing.

Digital Services Portfolio Group Manager – Digital Enablers, Heath Tolley, says feedback from consumer channels, early adopter practices and PHOs indicated a slight increase in public hesitation about information sharing, following recent cyber security incidents.

“This was reflected in a small rise in calls in January to our contact centre and general practices requesting to block information sharing. Despite this, Shared Digital Health Record opt-out levels remain within our expected range of 1–2%.”

He says the team also recently conducted a consumer survey to gather feedback on a brochure currently in development.

“As part of this, we asked people whether they were aware of a recent cybersecurity incident and whether it had affected their trust in health information sharing.”

Findings showed:

• 72% of respondents were aware of a recent health information breach in New Zealand
• Among those aware: 
  • 21% said it had a significant impact on their trust in health information sharing
  • 60% said it had a moderate impact.

Despite this, 83% of respondents said they were comfortable sharing their information via the Shared Digital Health Record to support their care.

Heath emphasises that protecting health information is a top priority, with multiple layers of security in place to keep Shared Digital Health Record data secure.

“The technical design of the Shared Digital Health Record supports security features, such as encryption at rest and in transit, access management capabilities, and is subject to security review prior to being given an authority to operate.”

• Access to data is controlled through secure APIs managed via Health NZ’s Digital Services Hub.
• The database is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and independently tested to ensure compliance with the Health Information Security Framework, the New Zealand Information Security Manual (NZISM), and Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) guidelines.
• Authentication and authorisation are managed through the Health NZ Connector Plane, which applies security policies to all requests and includes robust logging and auditing of all access to health records.

“Practice management systems and shared electronic health records must also demonstrate strong security controls and standards before they can integrate with the Shared Digital Health Record,” he says.

There is more information about the Shared Digital Health Record on the Health NZ webpages.
 
Webinar link available: Learn about taking part in the Shared Digital Health Record

On 25 March, a webinar was held for primary care to learn about how the Shared Digital Health Record data service works and how to onboard to the service. The link is now available on the Health NZ website.

Source: Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora media release

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