My View: When health information is everywhere, trust becomes the service

VIEW - Janine Bycroft, HiNZ Fellow and CEO and clinical director of the Health Navigator Charitable Trust, which operates Healthify He Puna Waiora. 

Stuff’s inaugural Health of the Nation survey caught my attention, not because the findings were surprising, but because they put numbers around something many of us in health see every day: people are surrounded by information, yet still searching for confidence. 

When people have a health question, they increasingly turn first to whatever is fastest and easiest to reach. Sixty-three percent of us turn first to Google or similar search tools, ahead of seeing a doctor at 56 percent. One in five turn first to an AI platform such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, rising to one in four among those aged 18–44. 

Yet trust runs the other way. Doctors top the list at 89 percent, nurses at 86 percent and pharmacists at 83 percent, while search engines sit at 52 percent, AI at 28 percent and social media at 18 percent. 

The behaviour-trust gap

It is tempting to read this as a disconnect between what Kiwis do and who they believe, but I would argue the opposite: people are behaving rationally. 

With a health worry at 11pm, you reach for what is instant, free and already in your hand as that is also the moment when the formal system is hardest to reach. 

Seventy percent of us have delayed care because of cost, access, or uncertainty about whether a problem is worth a clinician’s time. When the front door is that hard to open, the phone wins.

That behaviour–trust gap is not a moral failing, it is a design brief. 

The same pattern is emerging overseas. Pew Research Center’s April 2026 report found that health care providers remain the most-used and most-trusted source of health information for Americans, even as social media and AI chatbots become part of the mix. 

Trust has not disappeared, but expectations about access, immediacy and convenience have changed. 

Clinical guidance

Information is easy to find, but the help needed to make sense of it is not. 

People are looking for reassurance, context and guidance about what to do next. That is what good clinicians provide, and why they continue to command such high levels of trust. 

AI sharpens this tension rather than resolving it as many tools people use sit outside the privacy, accountability and clinical governance frameworks they associate with healthcare. 

As more people seek health support through digital channels, trust will depend not only on the accuracy of information, but also on how those services are governed, how clearly their limits are explained, and how safely they hand people on to human care when needed. 

The question is not whether people will use AI for health information as they already are. The more useful question is what people are telling us through that behaviour: they want health support that is immediate, conversational and available when they need it. 

They are also telling us that trusted guidance needs to show up where people are, rather than expecting people to find their way back to traditional entry points every time. 

Turning information into action

For digital health, that has important implications. Clinical accuracy, governance and evidence remain essential, but information alone is rarely enough. 

People need help understanding what information means for them, what actions they can take next, and when they need professional care. 

The challenge is not finding information, it is knowing what to do with it, and that is where the next opportunity sits: helping people turn information into confidence and action. 

Understanding a diagnosis; preparing for an appointment; managing a condition between visits; knowing when symptoms can be managed at home and when they need urgent attention. 

This is the space between information and care. It is also where organisations like Healthify He Puna Waiora and Health Navigator Charitable Trust focus much of their effort. The goal is not to replace clinicians or services, it is to help whānau turn knowledge into skills, confidence and action they can realistically take. 

We see a similar pattern among rangatahi. Youthline’s 2026 State of the Generation report found that many young people turn first to parents or carers and friends, social media, and increasingly AI when they need support. Yet formal services such as counselling and helplines continue to be seen as among the most effective channels of support. 

The equity gap

None of this is automatic. Digital access, health literacy, disability, language, cultural relevance and trust in institutions all shape who benefits. Built carelessly, digital tools can widen inequities. Built well, they can strengthen the relationships people have with the healthcare professionals they trust most. 

Clinically reviewed, plain-language resources such as Healthify’s can help people prepare for appointments, understand their conditions and treatments, manage them between visits, and recognise when to seek urgent care. That supports primary, secondary and community care; it does not replace clinicians or services. 

The future of digital health will not be defined by who publishes the most information. It will be defined by who helps people use it safely, wisely and at the right time. 

The goal is not to win people back from Google or persuade them not to use AI. People will continue to use the tools that are convenient, useful and available to them. 

The goal is to ensure that when someone reaches for the fastest answer, a trustworthy, clinically governed, plain-language one is there to meet them and that it knows when to hand them to a person. 

For those building these tools, governance is not a feature to bolt on later and for those commissioning them, it should be one of the first things to ask for. 

For the rest of us, it means showing up in the spaces people already use, rather than ceding them. 

Information is everywhere. Trusted guidance, and the judgment to know when a human is needed, is what is worth building. 

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