17 May 2022
Gregory Soar
[FYI request #18913 email]
Tēnā koe Gregory Soar
On 18 March 2022, you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the
Ministry) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the
following information:
• What specialist training does MSD believe a cannabis clinic doctor holds,
please outline the special training that allows them to be “specialists” as
required under NZ law and by the NZMC?
• MSD says cannabis doctors cannot be self referred to by MSD clients.
Please provide all legislation, Ministerial direction and ANY other formal
regulations / requirements that say a patient may jot self refer.
• Many medical practices are private businesses and have specialists such
as psychiatrists which are funded for clients of MSD so please supply all
information held that differentiates between cannabis clinic doctors
without specialist training and any other medical practice doctors who
funding for clients is given.
For clarity, I will address each of your questions in turn.
1. What specialist training does MSD believe a cannabis clinic doctor holds,
please outline the special training that allows them to be “specialists” as
required under NZ law and by the NZMC?
The Ministry is not responsible for assessing whether a medical practitioner
(including doctors who may prescribe medical cannabis) has specialist training
or can be called a specialist. For further information about this, you may like
to contact the Medical Council of New Zealand on freephone 0800 286 801, or
via their website: www.mcnz.org.nz/about-us/what-we-do/.

link to page 2 link to page 2 2. MSD says cannabis doctors cannot be self referred to by MSD clients.
Please provide all legislation, Ministerial direction and ANY other formal
regulations / requirements that say a patient may not self refer.
The  Ministry  does not prevent  clients  from  self-referring  to a medical
practitioner (doctor).
As such, we are refusing question 2 of your request under section 18(g) of the
Official Information Act 1982, on the ground that the information you have
requested does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to find it, cannot be
found.
3. Many medical practices are private businesses and have specialists such
as psychiatrists which are funded for clients of MSD so please supply all
information held that differentiates between cannabis clinic doctors
without specialist training and any other medical practice doctors who
funding for clients is given.
To respond to this request, I will provide some contextual information first.
The Ministry does not fund medical specialists, including psychiatrists. As such,
this part of your request for information that differentiates between cannabis
clinic doctors without specialist training and any other medical practice doctors
that the Ministry funds, is refused under section 18(g) of the Act as the
information you have requested is not held by the Ministry and I have no
grounds to believe that the information is held by another department or
Minister of the Crown or organisation.
Clients can apply to the Ministry for help with certain health and disability
costs. These costs can include fees and other treatment costs charged by
doctors (medical practitioners1) and other health practitioners. Clients needing
help with such costs on an ongoing basis may qualify for a Disability Allowance
(DA). DA is a weekly allowance, paid up to a maximum of $70.04 a week, that
can be paid to help a client (or their partner or dependent child) with certain
additional costs arising from their disability.
To receive a DA, a person must:
• be receiving a main benefit or meet an income test
• have a disability that is likely to last at least 6 months, or have a life
expectancy of less than 6 months because of a terminal illness
• have ongoing, additional costs arising from that disability2
1 A medical practitioner is a health practitioner who is, or is deemed to be, registered with the
Medical Council of New Zealand as a practitioner of the profession of medicine
2 Other assistance available to the client to meet the additional costs must also be insufficient
to fully cover the costs.
Page 2 of 4

• be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, and ordinarily resident
in New Zealand.
The person's disability must mean that they have a reduction in independent
functioning to the extent that they need:
• ongoing help with everyday functions of life, or
• ongoing supervision or treatment from a health practitioner.
To support their application for a DA, a person needs to provide a medical
certificate from a registered medical practitioner or nurse practitioner that
verifies the person has a disability that meets the DA qualifications, the nature
of the costs, and that those costs are necessary and of therapeutic value for
the person’s disability.
There may be additional verification requirements or considerations depending
on the specific type of cost being included in the DA.
More  information about the qualifications for DA can be found here:
www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/income-support/extra-help/disability-
allowance/index.html.
In some cases, DA can be used to assist with ongoing medical fees and other
costs  charged by doctors,  specialists and others, in relation to a client’s
disability. More information about including medical fees in a DA can be found
at  the  following  link:  www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/income-support/
extra-help/disability-allowance/medical-fees-01.html.
When assessing whether a client’s medical fees can be included in a DA, the
Ministry does not differentiate between “cannabis clinic doctors without
specialist training” and doctors who run “any other medical practice”. However,
the medical fees charged must qualify to be included in a DA, including (but
not limited to) that the costs are:
•
regular and ongoing
•
a direct result of a disability which is expected to continue for at least 6
months
•
additional to, or over and above, those costs that a person without a
disability would have
•
not fully funded by another agency such as the Ministry of Health, ACC
or other accident insurers, Education, regional councils, and
•
not a residential care service
The Ministry must also consider whether there are less costly services that
might meet the client’s need.
Page 3 of 4

If a client has qualifying costs that are above the maximum rate of DA, the
costs may be included as an allowable cost for Temporary Additional Support,
if the client qualifies for this payment.
Further information
The Ministry’s  operational guidelines for staff on Disability Allowance and
Temporary Additional Support are publicly available at:
• Disability Allowance:
www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/income-
support/extra-help/disability-allowance/introduction.html.
• Temporary Additional Support:  www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/
income-support/extra-help/temporary-additional-support/introduction
.html.
The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 under which
you made your request are:
• to create greater openness and transparency about the plans, work and
activities of the Government,
• to  increase  the  ability  of  the  public  to  participate  in  the  making  and
administration of our laws and policies and
• to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
This Ministry fully supports those principles and purposes. The Ministry
therefore  intends  to  make  the  information  contained  in  this  letter  and  any
attached documents available to the wider public. The Ministry will do this by
publishing this letter on the Ministry’s website. Your personal details will be
deleted, and the Ministry will not publish any information that would identify
you as the person who requested the information.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email].
If  you  are  not  satisfied  with  this  response,  you  have  the  right  to  seek  an
investigation and review by the Ombudsman. Information about how to make
a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
Dwina Dickinson
Group General Manager System Performance and Improvement
Service Delivery
Page 4 of 4

Document Outline