Health New Zealand’s latest quarterly update on primary care performance shows increased access to general practices, progress in childhood immunisation, and increases in smoking cessation support.
Primary care indicators are one of the ways we track how well the health system is supporting people to stay well and get the care they need, when they need it. Results are published quarterly so Primary Health Organisations (PHOs), general practices, and the public can see what is working, where progress is being made, and where more support is needed.
Quarter three results from April to June 2026 show:
GP enrolment availability
- 75.3% of general practices were enrolling new patients or enrolling with restrictions during the quarter, an increase from 71.7% in Q1
While access varied across regions, ranging from 59.5% to 83.5%, the ongoing national improvement is encouraging.
Childhood immunisation
- National immunisation coverage at 24 months is 84.9%, down slightly from 85% the previous quarter
- Immunisation coverage at eight months across all PHOs is 82.2%, up slightly from 81.1% in the previous quarter
While immunisation coverage continues to improve in some areas, the results show where further effort is needed to lift rates and achieve Health Target milestones. An important feature is the number of people who have declined immunisation – 8.3% at the eight-month milestone, and 10.5% at the 24-month milestone.
Smoking cessation support
- 24% of smokers received smoking cessation support or a referral in the last 15 months, up slightly from 23.8% the previous quarter
Performance varies across PHOs, ranging from 53.1% to 7.4% across the country.
How people are using general practice (GPQED)
GP Qualified Encounter Dates (GPQED) show how often people interact with their general practice, including visits, phone or online consultations, prescription requests, and other clinical care.
The national GPQED rate for June was 1.79 million encounters – that’s 349 encounters per 1,000 enrolled people. On average, roughly one in three enrolled people had a GP interaction in the month of June.
Martin Hefford Acting Director Community & Primary Care Funding at Health New Zealand, says it’s encouraging to see continued improvement in access to general practice, with three-quarters of practices enrolling new patients.
“We’re also seeing positive movement in childhood immunisation at eight-months and a continued increase in smoking cessation support.
“Immunisation coverage at 24-months has plateaued showing we have more work to do to ensure tamariki across New Zealand are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
“The GPQED data also demonstrates the ongoing and significant role of general practice, with more than 83,000 people accessing care each day through appointments, phone and online consultations, prescription requests, and other clinical services.
“Our focus remains on ensuring all New Zealanders can access timely, high-quality care close to home, and that primary care services are supported to meet the needs of their communities.”
In 2026/27 Health New Zealand will introduce a national Quality and Performance Framework, which will help drive improvement in quality and performance across a wider range of measures.