About Us

RAPHS is governed by a board of directors led by our chair Dr Genevieve Matthews. Board members are health professionals working within the Rotorua community and also includes an independent director.

Chief Executive Officer, Kirsten Stone, leads a senior leadership team and around 45 full and part-time staff. Our staff bring to the team a mix of experience and skills from community, clinical, IT, research and business backgrounds.

Our offices are based in central Rotorua.

Read more about our community, our objectives and practice network achievements in our latest Annual Report.

RAPHS Annual Report and Statement of Performance 2023 to 2024

RAPHS Signed Financial Statements 2024-2025

RAPHS Signed Financial Statements 2023-2024

RAPHS Signed Financial Statements 2022-2023

Rotorua Area Primary Health Services (RAPHS) is a Primary Health Organisation (PHO).

PHOs are not for profit organisations that receive funding from Te Whatu Ora to provide and support primary health care services. PHOs work with a network of primary care teams and other health and social care professionals in their community.

RAPHS health provider members

• Provide primary health care to around 71,000 people in the Rotorua area
• Assist patients to access hospital and specialist care, if and when it is needed
• Work to improve the health of people in the community with health promotions, screening programmes, vaccinations and other services.

In New Zealand, we follow an international system where healthcare is described as

• Primary healthcare – services provided by doctors and other health professionals in the community
• Secondary healthcare – services provided by hospitals
• Tertiary healthcare – specialist services

The term primary health care includes the care given by doctors and nurses in general practices when you are sick or need a check-up.

• Promote healthy living – exercise and eating well
• Prevent diseases and injuries – check-ups, screening and immunisations
• Provide rehabilitation – help after someone recover from an illness or after an accident

A primary health care provider is usually a patient’s first point of contact with the health system – unless it is an emergency.

RAPHS general practice members put patients first.

Last updated May 2026

Purpose

Openness and transparency are important to us. The Privacy Act 2020 requires us to tell you certain things about the personal information we need to carry out our functions. This is where we explain our privacy practices and why you can trust us to handle information about patients, and services provided by RAPHS and our member practices, with care and respect.

• This privacy statement explains how RAPHS collects, stores, uses and shares personal information.
• Personal information is any information which is about an identifiable individual; this may be a patient or a provider.

In short, here are a few key privacy messages to note:

• We only collect personal information where this is necessary to carry out our functions
• We may collect personal information directly from you or from other people or agencies, and we may generate personal information about you when we carry out our functions
• We store all our data (including your personal information) on a secure server. We protect our data with all reasonable technical and process controls
• You can ask us for a copy of your personal information at any time.
• We will only use and share personal information where necessary to carry out the functions for which we collected it, or if required by law

If you cannot find the information you need, or you have concerns about the way we are managing your personal information, then please contact us at any time.

1. USE OF INFORMATION

Rotorua Area Primary Health Services (RAPHS) as a PHO works alongside general practices and other providers to support health service provision. RAPHS practices and PHO need information for various reasons including:

• support services to provide safe and effective care
• coordinate services across the local health system
• improve access, quality, and equity of care
• meet funding, reporting, and legal obligations

2. WHAT INFORMATION WE HOLD

RAPHS may hold personal information, including:

• personal details (e.g. name, date of birth, ethnicity, NHI number, HPI number, contact details)
• health information (e.g. conditions, medications, measures, test results, immunisations)
• service information (e.g. enrolment, appointments, referrals, care activity, invoices)

3. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION

Directly from you

RAPHS services collect information from you during enrolment, care and other support interactions.

From other providers (indirect collection)

RAPHS may also receive information about you from:

• your general practice
• hospitals and specialist services
• Health New Zealand
• Patient Experience Survey
• laboratories and radiology providers
• pharmacies
• other health and community providers involved in your care

This means RAPHS may receive your information even if you have not provided it directly to us.

4. HOW RAPHS USES YOUR INFORMATION

RAPHS uses your information to:

Support care

• assist service providers with care coordination
• identify people who may benefit from follow-up or preventive care
• support shared care and systems for data sharing

Support general practices to deliver care

• provide tools and reporting to help practices manage patient care
• identify patients who may be due or overdue for services
• provide education
• support ongoing continuous quality improvement
• make provider payments for services delivered

Improve the health system

• plan, fund and monitor services
• monitor performance against national health targets
• support quality improvement and equity initiatives
• research projects
• population health analysis and monitoring
• community and provider engagement initiatives
• comparative data on provider activity to manage unexplained variation and enable performance improvement

Meeting funding, reporting, and legal obligations

• reporting as required to funders (eg Health New Zealand, ACC), PHO and practice management, and local leadership teams to support service provision and contractual requirements
• financial calculations and paying providers for services offered to patients
• meeting health target and performance reporting requirements
• Audit and assurance (compliance)

Where possible, we use de-identified or aggregated data for system-level analysis.

5. RAPHS DATA SYSTEMS AND ANALYTICS

RAPHS operates secure systems that bring together information from general practices and other providers to support care and service improvement.

These systems may:

• combine data from multiple sources
• provide near real-time reporting to support patient care
• generate lists to help practices follow up patients

Access is restricted to authorised staff and providers for approved purposes.

6. USE OF DATA FOR INNOVATION AND AI

RAPHS may use information to support new tools and technologies, including analytics and artificial intelligence, to:

• improve care coordination
• reduce administrative workload
• support earlier identification of health needs

These uses are governed by strict privacy, security, and ethical controls.
Where possible, data used for these purposes is de-identified.

7. NOTIFICATION OF INDIRECT COLLECTION

Under New Zealand privacy law, RAPHS is required to notify you when we collect your information from other sources.

We take reasonable steps to ensure you are aware that:

• we may receive information about you from other providers
• the purpose for holding and using that information
• who we may share it with
• your rights to access and correct it

In most cases, this notification is provided through:

• this privacy statement
• your general practice enrolment process
• information shared during your care

8. HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS SHARED

Your information may be shared with:

• your general practice and healthcare team
• hospitals and specialists involved in your care
• laboratories, pharmacies, and diagnostic providers
• other providers supporting your care

RAPHS may also share information:

• where required by law
• with authorised agencies for funding and reporting purposes
• for research when supported by an approved Ethics proposal

9. WHEN WE MAY NOT NOTIFY YOU

In some situations, RAPHS may not notify you about indirect collection if:

• you would reasonably expect the information to be shared as part of your care
• it is not practical to notify you
• notification could affect your care or safety
• the law allows us not to notify

10. YOUR RIGHTS

You have the right to:

• access your health information
• request correction of your information
• ask how your information has been used

To do this, contact your general practice or RAPHS directly.

11. HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

RAPHS takes reasonable steps to ensure your information is:

• securely stored
• protected from unauthorised access
• only used for appropriate purposes

12. CONTACT

If you have any questions about your privacy or this statement, please contact:

Rotorua Area Primary Health Services (RAPHS) Privacy Officer

Phone: DDI - 07 808 1614