Official Information Act

If you would like to make request information from Waikato DHB, please send your request to:

By Email: OIA_Contact@waikatodhb.health.nz

To help us identify what information you are looking for, try to make your request as clear and specific as you can. If we do not understand your request we will get in contact to clarify the information you want to receive. Remember to include your name and contact address so that we can respond to you.

If you wish to request personal information held by Waikato DHB about yourself, go to Your Personal Information and Privacy.

We will acknowledge your request upon receipt, and will give you our decision as soon as possible, and no later than 20 working days after we receive it.

If we need more time to make our decision, for example, if your request is very large or if it requires consultation, we will let you know and tell you when you can expect our decision. You can complain to the Office of the Ombudsman if you are not happy with our decision to extend the time .

Requesting information is free, although we can charge a reasonable amount if it will take a lot of work to supply the information to you. You will be informed if we intend to make a charge before your request proceeds, and we will ask if you would like to continue with your request. You can complain to the Office of the Ombudsman if you are not happy with our decision to charge.

When we receive your request, we will find all the information you have asked for and review it carefully. We may need to consult others in order to make a decision on your request.

The information you requested will then be made available to you unless there is a good reason not to. The reasons for withholding information are specified in the legislation. They apply when release would harm a protected interest such as the maintenance of the law, personal privacy, confidentiality or commercial information.

Some reasons for withholding are subject to a ‘public interest test’, where as part of our decision on your request we will consider whether there are public interest considerations that mean we should release the information.

If we withhold information from you, we will tell you which part of the OIA applies. You have the right to complain to the Office of the Ombudsman about our decision to withhold information.

In the interests of transparency, Waikato DHB has decided to publish OIA responses and proactively release information that may be requested under the OIA, where the DHB considers the response or information to be of particular public interest.

Before making an OIA request it may be useful to view information on our website, as we publish useful information online on a regular basis. The repository of OIAs will be listed and grouped by title alphabetically.

• Waikato DHB’s key publications and policies
• Information of Rest Home care and audits

For more information about the Official Information Act and OIA requests please refer to:

• Ombudsman Guide – Making official information requests: a guide for requestors
• Ombudsman’s official information legislation guides
• Official Information Act 1982
• Privacy Act 1993
• Charging guidelines for official information requests