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Our vision
Our vision for the health system is to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders.
The Government Policy Statement on Health sets out the plan for how this vision will be achieved.
Our role
The Ministry of Health is the lead advisor to the government on health and makes sure the health system is delivering to meet the current and future needs of New Zealanders.
We do this in 3 ways: policy, regulation and monitoring.
Our functions
The Ministry of Health has 3 core functions.
Policy
We support the Government to set clear priorities for the health system and develop policy options to help achieve them.
We collect evidence and insights to understand what’s happening in the health system and how to get the best health outcomes for New Zealanders.
Regulation
The Ministry of Health has responsibilities under the Public Service Act 2020 for the legislation we administer. We are responsible for ensuring public safety and quality through our regulatory functions and activities. This includes ensuring the safe provision of health services to the public, monitoring the safety of medicines, and enabling innovation for the uptake of new ways of working to improve health outcomes.
Monitoring
We monitor the performance of the health system - this includes the performance of the health Crown entities and organisations such as Health New Zealand.
We monitor by collecting data, checking performance, and reporting to the Government on progress. If things are not going as planned, we work with others to get back on track.
We assess whether the health system is effective in improving health outcomes for New Zealanders.
We check whether money is being used effectively, and we monitor the financial health of our entities.
