Legislation

About Us

The Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee is appointed subject to sections 11, 12 and 18 of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. Schedule 5 of the Act applies specific provisions relating to information collection and prohibitions on disclosing information.

This extract from New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 states the legislative basis of the Committee.

The Act allows the Minister of Health to appoint mortality review committees with the purpose ... to review and report to the Minister ... on specified classes of deaths of persons, or persons of specified classes, with a view to reducing the numbers of deaths ... and continuous improvement through the promotion of ongoing quality assurance programmes[s18(a)].

Provision is made for any such Ministerially appointed committees to have the powers to source relevant information and establish a process to review deaths.

The Act imposes strict confidentiality conditions for the collection and use of information.