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About the Review
The Ministry of Health, in partnership with Standards New Zealand, reviewed and combined four existing standards into a single updated standard: Ngā Paerewa Health and disability services standard (NZS 8134:2021). This was the most extensive consultation in the history of these standards, involving over 300 stakeholders.
Ngā Paerewa can be found on the Standards New Zealand website.
Which standards were reviewed
- Health and Disability Services Standards (NZS 8134:2008)
- Fertility Services Standard (NZS8181:2007)
- Home and Community Sector Standards (NZS 8158:2012)
- Interim Standards for Abortion Services in New Zealand.
Governance structure
- Governance Group: provided strategic oversight.
- Operative Alliance: offered operational guidance.
- Te Apārangi: Māori Partnership Alliance: ensured Māori participation and decision-making, with authority over Māori content in the standards.
Guiding principles
The review was guided by five principles:
Achieving Māori health equity
Statement of intent: Te Tiriti (Kāwanatanga, Tino Rangatiratanga, Ōritetanga) to underpin the review of the standards.
Accessible health and disability services
Statement of intent: people and whānau regardless of culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, economic situation or geographic location, have timely and equitable access to appropriate health and disability support services.
Partners with choice and control
Statement of intent: people and whānau using health and disability services have their rights upheld to make choices about their care. Working alongside professionals (Better Together) improves service quality, safety, experience of care and equity of health and wellbeing outcomes. 'Nothing about us without us'.
Best practice through collaboration
Statement of intent: appropriate care includes understanding of the lived experiences and shared decision making with people and whānau.
Standards that increase positive life outcomes
Statement of intent: the standards reflect the interaction between people and whānau, their health, wellbeing and disability support needs.
Engagement approach
This review was conducted in four phases:
- Initial sector consultation (2017–2018): identified the need for updates.
- Scoping workshops (2019): explored the scope of changes and supported a modular approach and Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a foundational framework.
- Working groups (2019-2020): developed overarching criteria across five key areas, incorporating Māori experiences and perspectives.
- Standards New Zealand (2020): finalised the updated standard.
Key features
- Modular Certification Frameworks: allows flexibility across service types.
- People Statements: developed by service users to reflect their perspectives.
- Te Tiriti Integration: embedded throughout the standard to uphold Māori rights and values.
- Independent evaluation: the Ministry commissioned Malatest International to conduct an independent evaluation of the implementation of Ngā paerewa Health and disability services standard NZS 8134:2021.
