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About the Primary Care Tactical Action Plan

The Primary Care Tactical Action Plan is a joint initiative between Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health

It outlines how Health NZ and the Ministry of Health will implement the Government’s priorities and over $640 million dollar investment in primary and community care, focusing on:

  • improving access
  • expanding services in the community
  • ensuring continuity of care
  • better coordination to support national health targets.

Primary Care announcementsexternal link

Visual overview of the plan, actions, outcomes and roadmap.PDF98 KB

If you have any questions, email the primary care team at primary.care@tewhatuora.govt.nz

Actions

Find the actions and programmes we're delivering to achieve our goals for better, fairer, and more accessible primary care.

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The Government has invested $90M to support improved primary care performance.

Key initiatives include:

  • New primary care health target: 80% of New Zealanders have GP access within one week
  • Supported by a new national dataset and outcomes framework
  • Performance-based funding linked to achieving results: 6-week immunisation rates.

Find out more:

We are updating the way we fund general practice for the first time in 20 years.

From 1 July 2026, the funding formula will include:

  • age
  • sex
  • morbidity
  • rurality
  • deprivation.

Regular reviews will keep the funding fair and fit for purpose.

Find out more:

Strengthening primary care to better meet patient needs | Beehive.govt.nzexternal link

We are introducing new services to increase patient access to primary care, including:

  • a new online GP 24/7 service for when people cannot see their GP team
  • consistent, sustainable, urgent and after-hours care nationwide, that will make sure 98% of New Zealanders can reach urgent care within one hour’s drive of home
  • more acute and planned care in community settings.

Find out more:

The Government has invested $133 million in building a stronger primary care workforce with targeted support for doctors, nurses and their employers.

Doctor pathway

  • Up to 50 domestic medical graduates in primary care training pathway.
  • 100 overseas-trained doctors supported into practice through primary care training pathway.
  • More support for GP training.
  • More medical students.

Nurse pathway

  • 400+ employer incentives to employ graduate registered nurses annually in primary care.
  • Support for 120 nurses to advance education, including prescribing.
  • Expanded funding support for Nurse Practitioner (NP) training (180 funded places annually).

Find out more:

As part of Budget 2025, the Government announced changes to enable New Zealanders with long-term, stable conditions greater access to medicines, which will free up GP time and make medicines easier to access.

This includes:

  • 12 month prescription lengths for some medicines
  • expanding prescriber rights to a wider set of health professionals.

Find out more:

12-month prescriptions put money in patients’ pockets — Beehive.govt.nzexternal link

Improving access to medicines, 12-month prescriptions — Health New Zealandexternal link

Outcomes by 2028

These are the outcomes we’re working towards, showing the difference our actions and programmes will make for people and communities by 2028.

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  • 150 more GPs and 300 more NPs trained.
  • Shorter wait times for appointments with your GP — more people can get GP care within 7 days.
  • More families can enrol with a local practice (fewer closed books).
  • Early treatment to stop small issues becoming big ones — slower growth in emergency department numbers.
  • Confidence that urgent care is available nearby, wherever you live.
  • 24/7 online GP service available to all, when you cannot see your GP team.
  • 12 month scripts — fewer trips to the GP just to renew a prescription, more affordable and convenient.

Shared health record — your health information goes with you. This provides safer care with reduced need to repeat your story (and less administration duplication for health services).

  • Broader range of tests to detect disease early across New Zealand.
  • Patients can get more specialist care in primary care settings without going to hospital.

  • Giving patients seamless transitions between services and providers.
  • Improved immunisation rates.
  • Joined up services support the delivery of health targets.

What we have achieved so far

Our first key steps and milestones on our journey to deliver better primary care.

  • 12% increase to general practice annual funding
  • Online 24/7 GP care launched July 2025
  • Primary Care Health Target and National Primary Care Data Set development
  • First international doctors groups enter pathway (approx 31 YTD)
  • Domestic GP pathway for 50 doctors approved – development underway
  • Applications open for graduate nurse funding, Nurse Practitioner training and Advanced Education scholarships
  • New regulations to support 12-month prescriptions introduced
  • Urgent care and after-hours roll-out – Dunedin, Lower Hutt, six rural prototypes – more to come.

If you have any questions, please email the primary care team at primary.care@tewhatuora.govt.nz