tehgerbil:

 

I found out DHB's do not have any form of coherent interoperability between the regions. Ironically might have saved this going nationwide.. But if you see a Dr in Auckland and you're from Christchurch the Auckland Dr can't just log into an app and see your details, they have to be manually faxed (!!) through apparently!?

 

A bit OT, but you're correct.

Until about 5 or 6 years ago, there was little to no data sharing between DHBs. In that time, most of the DHBs have formed regional systems for sharing clinical information, so your Christchurch/Auckland scenario is correct, but a Nelson doctor would (I think) be able to see Christchurch's data. Also until a couple of years ago, email was considered insecure, so documents would be printed, faxed, and scanned to get them from one DHB to another. Nowadays email between DHBs goes through a secure VPN, so documents can be emailed. However, many staff are still wedded to the old ways.

Until recently, there was/is also a separation between primary practice (GPs and PHOs) data and DHB data, although at least in my region it's been linked. The information that a GP records on a patient wasn't accessible to hospital doctors.