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When to notify an incident
Under Section 31(5) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001, certified providers must notify the Director-General of Health of any of the following.
- Health and safety risk to residents or a situation that puts (or could potentially put) the health and safety of people at risk.
- Police investigation into any aspects of the service.
- Death reported to the coroner of a person to whom you have provided services or that occurred in any premises in which services are provided.
These notifications help the health system learn from these incidents and improve the safety and quality of services.
How to notify an incident
If you are a residential disability provider funded by Disability Support Services, please complete your usual ‘Critical Incident’ notification form, and send a copy to HealthCERT.
For all other providers, please use this notification form to report incidents to HealthCERT:
Refer to the guidelines below for detailed information on how and what to report.
Pressure injuries in aged residential care
Effective 1 July 2024, pressure injuries in aged residential care must be reported to Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission (Te Tāhū Hauora) via their adverse events reporting process. This change aims to simplify reporting and ensure consistent data collection.
Te Tāhū Hauora will share agreed information about reported pressure injuries directly with HealthCERT to fulfill reporting obligations under section 31 of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001.
The Health Quality & Safety Commission has more information on the adverse events reporting process.
Registered nurse workforce availability in aged residential care
Due to ongoing Registered Nurse (RN) shortages, HealthCERT introduced a Section 31 RN shortage notification form for aged residential care providers in April 2022.
This was updated on 1 April 2024 to improve data quality and support national workforce planning.
The revised form remains a key tool for aged residential care providers to notify HealthCERT when RN shortages pose a health and safety risk or breach contractual RN oversight requirements.
Aged residential care providers are to use the updated form:
Please submit this form as a Word document (avoid converting to a pdf document, or handwritten forms).
Advising Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora
If you hold a contract with Health New Zealand, send a copy of the completed notification form to your usual contact at Health New Zealand.
Further information
For questions or support, contact HealthCERT on 0800 113 813 or email: [email protected].
