133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
15 November 2021
Hiria Te Rangi
By email: [FYI request #17225 email]
Ref:
H202114519
Tēnā koe Hiria
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) on 17 October 2021
to the Ministry of Health (the Ministry). Please find a response to each parts of your request
below.
Could you please tell me who (as in organisation and team not person/s) collects
vaccination centre, location of interest and testing site information for publishing to the
public by the Ministry of Health?
Vaccination centre testing site information is provided directly to Healthpoint by the district
health boards (DHBs), vaccination and testing centres, general practitioners, pharmacies and
Māori and Pasifika organisations as they manage those locations. Locations of interests are
identified by public health units (PHUs) during case investigation and as such are provided by
the DHBs. This information is published on Healthpoint
at: www.healthpoint.co.nz.
The Ministry also provides information to Healthpoint relating to saliva testing drop-off and
pick-up locations, as the Ministry holds the contract for saliva testing, and is not held by the
DHBs.
Who has ultimate authority over vaccination centre, location of interest and testing site
information is it the Ministry of Health or someone else?
Each vaccination or testing service is the owner of the information on Healthpoint. Healthpoint
has permission from each service to publish this information on the Healthpoint website and to
share it through the Healthpoint API.
Is vaccination centre, location of interest and testing site information considered public
data? As the creation of vaccination and testing centres and the contact tracing service
are funded by public monies.
The data that comes from these sites is held by the Ministry and is frequently published at the
following links:
•
www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-
coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/contact-tracing-covid-19/covid-19-
contact-tracing-locations-interest
•
www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-
coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-case-demographics
•
https:/ www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/
What is the working relationship of Ministry of Health and Healthpoint, as in what service
or services does Healthpoint provide the Ministry.
The Ministry has several contracts with Healthpoint to provide locational data for several
different services. Each contract is funded out of the budget of the business unit that holds the
contract. The Ministry currently has contracts with Healthpoint for provision of testing
information, saliva testing locations, and vaccination location information.
Is the information held by Healthpoint within the Healthpoint Directory website
www.healthpoint.co.nz/ public data?
Please refer to question 1 above.
Does Healthpoint pay the Ministry of Health for the information that is contained within the
Healthpoint Directory?
Healthpoint does not pay the Ministry for the information contained within the
Healthpoint Directory, however, the Ministry does pay Healthpoint a licencing fee to host
testing and vaccination information on their platform.
Does the Ministry of Health know that Healthpoint charges a fee to Health organisations in
order to access the Healthpoint Directory API?
The Ministry is aware of this. This is part of the Healthpoint business model and is a very
common business model for internet-based businesses. The fee charge by Healthpoint is for
the API service for example API infrastructure, hosting, Fast Healthcare Interoperability
Resources standards compliance etc.
Why doesn't Ministry of Health pay the fee for all Health organisations to use the
Healthpoint API?
The Ministry provides funding to publicly funded health services. If they choose to pay for the
Healthpoint API, that is a decision of the respective health organisation. The Ministry is a
strategic-level organisation and where we can, avoid interfering in how the DHBs provide
operational services.
I trust this information fulfils your request. Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to
ask the Ombudsman to review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may
be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Darryl Carpenter
Group Manager
COVID-19 Immunisation, Testing and Supply
