Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand has been rebuked by the Ombudsman’s office for “unacceptable” delays in releasing public information about safety in hospitals.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier upheld two related complaints from the Herald after an Official Information Act request for data held by the former district health boards on unsafe staffing levels was significantly delayed and incomplete.

In the two decisions, which have not been reported until now, Boshier said his investigations concluded that the national health authority had failed to meet the disclosure requirements imposed by the OIA.

“I am sorry that this has occurred. To me, it is unacceptable,” Boshier said.

The Chief Ombudsman said he has put Te Whatu Ora on notice that he will be monitoring its compliance with the disclosure laws and “drawing public attention to cases where there is demonstrable non-compliance”.

“I have reported my final opinion to the Minister of Health [Ayesha Verrall].”

The Ombudsman was already conducting a broader investigation into the handling of OIA requests at Te Whatu Ora and several other departments, including the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) and Treasury. That inquiry is ongoing.

The Herald complaint highlights the problems in obtaining data about health services that have plagued Te Whatu Ora since it was created through the merger of 20 district health boards in July last year. In this case, the delays were largely due to difficulties in collating the figures from various regions that do not share the same processes and systems.

“The timeliness of those responses was not what we strive to achieve,” said Peter Alsop, Te Whatu Ora’s chief of staff.

Te Whatu Ora is working on improving its disclosure processes and “making good progress”, he added.

In April, the Weekend Herald reported that hospitals recorded more than 23,000 reports of unsafe staffing in the past three years. The number of recorded incidents more than doubled in that period, as Covid-19 pushed an already strained workforce to the brink.