Story perspectives

Health NZ IT Outage Disrupts Hospitals, Raises Safety Concerns

1/29/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Health New Zealand faced an IT outage affecting Te Tai Tokerau, Waitemata, Auckland, and Counties Manukau hospitals.
The outage lasted approximately 12 hours and disrupted clinical and operational systems, though patient care continued.
Patients reported chaotic emergency departments as staff managed increased workloads manually.
The Public Service Association urged a review of IT vulnerabilities and linked funding cuts to the loss of IT specialists, saying such failures threaten patient safety.

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Story summary

Health New Zealand faced an IT outage affecting Te Tai Tokerau, Waitemata, Auckland, and Counties Manukau hospitals.
The outage lasted approximately 12 hours and disrupted clinical and operational systems, though patient care continued.
Patients reported chaotic emergency departments as staff managed increased workloads manually.
The Public Service Association urged a review of IT vulnerabilities and linked funding cuts to the loss of IT specialists, saying such failures threaten patient safety.