Data dictionaries

Published: March 2014

Updated: July 2025

The faster cancer treatment (FCT) indicators were introduced in July 2012.

The FCT indicators document outlines the following requirements for reporting.

• Business rules and data definitions.
• Delay code reporting guidance.
• High suspicion of cancer definitions.
• Tumour specific reporting guidance.
• Use cases.

FCT indicators data dictionary download

FCT indicators business rules and data definitions v6.5 July 2025

Published: 1 October 2003

The General medical subsidy data mart (GMS DM) is used to:

• monitor contracts with providers
• support forecasting and setting of annual budgets
• analyse health needs and assess policy effectiveness.

The GMS DM contains the fee-for-service payments made to doctors for patient visits processed by the HealthPAC Proclaim system.

The GMS DM was established in August 2003 and contains data from November 2001.

All data transferred from HealthPAC to the GMS DM is claim-related data sent by claimants. Definitions in the GMS DM data dictionary are based on the GP Section 88 Notice.

The GMS DM includes only health events processed by HealthPAC. Most health events for which there are no fee claims are not included in the GMS data mart.

GMS DM data dictionary download

GMS DM data dictionary

Published: 1 October 2003

The Hepatitis B data mart (Hep B DM) was established for the hepatitis B screening programme pilot to support:

• policy formation
• performance monitoring
• review.

The pilot has been conducted for 3 years with 2 primary care providers. It has now been extended to capture secondary care data.

Hep B contains primary care and secondary care information for the hepatitis B screening programme pilot.

Hep B DM data dictionary download

Hep B DM data dictionary

Published: 1 April 2005

The Laboratory claims data mart data (Labs DM) allows us to monitor the primary-care test subsidies.

Labs contains claim and payment information for laboratory tests that have been processed by the HealthPAC General Transaction Processing System (GTPS). It also contains laboratory test information from Medlab South providers.

As of October 2004, this amounted to over 134 million rows of claim and payment data.

Lab DM data dictionary download

Labs DM data dictionary

Published: 1 October 2003

The Medical Warnings System (MWS) is a value-added service closely aligned with the National Health Index (NHI). It is designed to warn healthcare providers of the presence of any known risk factors that may be important when making clinical decisions about patient care.

The MWS comprises the following features:

• medical warnings incorporating adverse medical reactions and significant medical conditions
• event summaries incorporating identification of the facility where the patient’s medical record is located
• donor information incorporating donor summaries and healthcare user contact details.

MWS data dictionary download

MWS data dictionary

Published: 18 May 2017

The mortality collection was established to provide data for:

• public health research
• policy formulation
• development and monitoring
• cancer survival studies.

A complete data set of each year’s mortality data is sent to the World Health Organization (WHO) each year. This data is used in international comparisons of mortality statistics.

The mortality collection classifies the underlying cause of death for all deaths registered in Aotearoa New Zealand, including all registered fetal deaths (stillbirths), using both the:

• ICD-10-AM 8th Edition
• WHO rules and guidelines for mortality coding.

Fetal and infant data is a subset of the mortality collection. Extra variables such as gestation and birth weight are collected.

Mortality collection data dictionary downloads

Mortality collection data dictionary v1.8

Mortality collection data dictionary v1.7

Mortality collection data dictionary v1.6

Published: 1 July 2014

The National Booking Reporting System (NBRS) provides information by health speciality and booking status on how:

• many patients are waiting for treatment
• long patients had to wait before receiving treatment.

The NBRS contains details of all booking status events involving a healthcare user who:

• receives a priority for an elective medical or surgical service
• is likely to receive publicly funded treatment.

Information is collected about the patient’s:

• date of entry into the system
• assessed priority
• booking status.

NBRS data dictionary downloads

NBRS data dictionary v 4.6

NBRS data dictionary v 4.5

NBRS data dictionary v4.4

NBRS data dictionary v 4.3

Published: 1 July 2014

The National Booking Reporting System data mart (NBRS DM) provides summary statistics for use in the elective services performance indicator (ESPI) reports. The ESPIs are by:

• district health board (DHB)
• health speciality
• month.

The NBRS DM contains:

• agreement volume contractual data from the contract management system
• actual inpatient contractual data from the NMDS
• summary outpatient data for patients referred to DHBs, as well as summaries of all booking status events held in the national booking reporting system (NBRS).

Information is collected about the patient’s:

• date of entry into the system
• assessed priority
• booking status.

NBRS DM data dictionary downloads

NBRS DM data dictionary v2.9 3

NBRS DM data dictionary v2.9 2

Published: 1 July 2009

The National Health Index (NHI) is the cornerstone of health information in Aotearoa New Zealand. The NHI provides a way to identify every healthcare user by assigning each a unique number. This is known as an NHI number.

Your NHI is used by healthcare providers, such as:

• public and private hospitals
• general practices
• pharmacies
• laboratories
• midwives.

They may use the NHI number to:

• find past and current information held in hospital systems
• manage planned future events, such as elective surgery bookings
• check important information from the Medical Warning System (MWS)
• view immunisation information in the National Immunisation Register
• manage your enrolment and provider choices in the National Enrolment Service.

Health NZ uses a coded or encrypted form of the NHI number in national statistical databases. These databases are used to:

• produce statistics and reports
• meet international reporting duties
• help design health policy
• support research
• plan and monitor health and disability services.

Using a coded or encrypted number means the data can be linked for planning and research, while protecting your identity.

Coverage is estimated to be 98% of the population.

When duplicate records for a healthcare user are identified, they are linked. One of their NHI numbers will be the primary, or master, and the others become secondary NHI numbers. For the analysis of healthcare information relating to a unique individual, use the primary NHI number. Local systems may use secondary NHI numbers.

NHI data dictionary download

NHI data dictionary

Published: 7 November 2011

The National maternity collection (MAT) provides statistical, demographic and clinical information about selected publicly-funded maternity services up to 9 months before and 3 months after a birth.

MAT data dictionary

Published: 1 July 2021

The National Minimum Dataset (NMDS) is used for:

• policy formation
• performance monitoring
• research
• review.

It provides statistical information, reports, and analyses about the trends in the delivery of hospital inpatient and day patient health services both nationally and on a provider basis. It is also used for funding purposes.

The NMDS is a national collection of public and private hospital discharge information, including clinical information, for inpatients and day patients. Unit record data is collected and stored. All records must have a valid NHI number.

Data has been submitted electronically in an agreed format by public hospitals since 1993.

The private hospital discharge information for publicly-funded events has been collected since 1997, for example, birth events and geriatric care. Other data is being added as it becomes available.

NMDS data dictionary downloads

NMDS data dictionary v7.9.3

NMDS data dictionary v7.9.2

NMDS data dictionary v7.9.1

NMDS data dictionary v7.9

NMDS data dictionary v7.8

NMDS data dictionary v7.6

Published: 1 July 2018

The National Minimum Dataset (hospital events) data mart (NMDS DM) is used for:

• policy formation
• performance monitoring
• research
• review.

It provides statistical information, reports, and analyses about the trends in the delivery of hospital inpatient and day patient health services both nationally and on a provider basis. It is also used for funding purposes.

The NMDS DM is a national collection of public and private hospital discharge information, including clinical information, for inpatients and day patients. Unit record data is collected and stored. All records must have a valid NHI number.

NMDS (hospital events) data mart data dictionary downloads

NMDS DM data dictionary v7.9.2

NMDS DM data dictionary v7.9.1

NMDS DM data dictionary v7.9

NMDS DM data dictionary v7.8

NMDS DM data dictionary v7.7

NMDS DM data dictionary v7.6

Published: 1 July 2020

The National Non-admitted Patient Collection (NNPAC) provides data on non-admitted patient activity. Such as outpatient and emergency department data.

Its primary use is for calculating inter district flows (IDFs).  It may also help provide information to measure health outcomes and inform decisions on funding and policy.

Transaction records contain details of the non-admitted patient:

• event
• event date
• facility
• type of service.

All records must have a valid NHI number.

NNPAC data mart data dictionary downloads

NNPAC data dictionary v2.7.6

NNPAC data dictionary v2.7.5

The New Zealand cancer registry data dictionary is being reviewed.

If you have any queries, email us at data-enquiries@health.govt.nz

Published: 30 September 2011

The primary health organisation enrolment (PHO) collection holds primary healthcare patient enrolment data.

The purpose of the collection is to:

• help PHOs, Health NZ and the Ministry of Health report and monitor patient enrolment under the primary healthcare system
• provide PHOs, Health NZ, the Ministry of Health and health researchers with data to help population health research
• to help PHOs examine and improve the quality of their enrolment information.

PHO enrolment collection data mart data dictionary downloads

PHO data mart data dictionary version 1.2

Published: 1 December 2010

The Programme for the Integration of Mental Health Data (PRIMHD) is a national database of information collected to support:

• policy formation
• monitoring
• research.

PRIMHD collects information on the provision of government-funded secondary mental health, and alcohol and drug services.  This includes Health NZ and non-government organisation (NGO) providing secondary:

• inpatient services
• residential services
• outpatient services
• community services.

PRIMHD does not include information on the provision of primary mental health care, for example from general practitioners (GPs).

PRIMHD data includes:

• details of services provided
• demographic variables, such as sex, age and ethnicity
• diagnosis
• legal status
• referral and discharge
• outcomes.

PRIMHD data dictionary downloads

PRIMHD data dictionary v4

PRIMHD data mart — ERD diagram