The Assisted Dying Secretariat in the Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora oversees service regulation, statutory committees, and includes the Office of the Registrar.
The Assisted Dying secretariat, within the Ministry of Health (the Ministry), is responsible for regulating the assisted dying service. This includes ensuring the service is person-centred, equitable and accessible, and that there are appropriate safeguards in place for the people and practitioners involved.
The Secretariat can be contacted by emailing [email protected]
Work programme
The team at the Ministry has a work programme in place with a number of workstreams to regulate the service. These include stakeholder and sector engagement, committees, monitoring, funding and financial accountability, policy standards and regulations, regulatory systems improvement, data collection and reporting.
The Registrar (assisted dying)
The Registrar (assisted dying) is also part of the team at the Ministry and is supported by the Office of the Registrar. The role of the Registrar is an important safeguard that is outlined in the Act. They must check that the processes required by the Act have been complied with before the assisted death can take place. They also investigate complaints.
- Read more about the Assisted Dying Service complaints process
- Read the latest report from the Registrar (assisted dying)
End of Life Review Committee and the Support and Consultation for End of Life in New Zealand Group (SCENZ)
The Ministry are responsible for supporting the End of Life Review Committee and the SCENZ group. The team at the Ministry provider secretariat support to both groups and help to maintain the SCENZ practitioner replacement list.
Te Whatu Ora
Te Whatu Ora is responsible for the operation of assisted dying services. Clinical advisors in Te Whatu Ora provide information and support to help a person and their whānau navigate the assisted dying process, as well as the involved practitioners. All Clinical Advisors are registered nurses.
Part of Clinical Advisory’s role is connecting people to health practitioners who provide assisted dying services and to support applicants through the process and answer any questions they may have. For example, where a person’s usual doctor does not provide assisted dying services they will connect them to a doctor who does or to help arrange the second independent assessment. All practitioners are drawn from the lists held by the SCENZ Group.
The Te Whatu Ora team can be contacted at [email protected] or free phone 0800 223 852.