The Care Records Improvement Project

Archives NZ is designing overarching guidance for the public sector, and developing national standards and guidance on best practice record keeping based on the Care Records Framework external.

The project 

For the first half of 2026, DSS will be working alongside Archives NZ to develop best practice guidance and resources to help disability support providers to better understand and meet their record keeping obligations.  

Providers have told us that they want guidance as soon as possible and that it should: 

• include guidelines about care records management obligations   

• include practical and concrete examples of what good records look like

• be built alongside and tested with providers from the start.

Opportunity to join the Provider Reference Group

DSS is working with NZDSN to establish a Provider Reference Group. This will provide support in building and testing the guidance, and ensure it is fit for purpose.

The Group will meet for two online workshops in March and one in April 2026. Each workshop will take one hour and be facilitated by the DSS Quality Improvement team.

Provider representatives on the Group will be responsible for providing direction and feedback to help make the guidance as effective as possible.

Get involved

If you would like to be considered to be part of this group, please email contact@nzdsn.org.nz. To be considered, you need to be a disability support service provider and have knowledge of how care record keeping works in your organisation.

DSS will also provide updates and test the direction of the work with our funded providers via our existing Provider Quality Forums and National Quality Leaders Group. 

If you have any questions about the project, please send them through to quality@msd.govt.nz.

Immediate record keeping support 

If you need any immediate record keeping support, Archives NZ can answer your questions and provide advice through rkadvice@dia.govt.nz.