NZePS planned outage – 3 December 2025, 8:00pm to 10:00pm

New Zealand ePrescription Service (NZePS) is updating how prescriptions are managed to support the Government’s upcoming 12-month prescription changes from 1 February 2026. A planned NZePS system update will take place on Wednesday, 3 December 2025, from 8:00pm to 10:00pm.

Updates to extended access period and archiving

• Prescriptions will remain in the archive for longer.
• Archived prescriptions will stay accessible for updates for an extended period.

Impact on prescribers

• This change is an extension of current rules, so most prescribers, and pharmacies, are unlikely to notice any difference once the system is back online.
• The change will have no impact to prescribing or dispensing data available through the Medicines Data Repository (MDR) or Data Feeder Service (DFS).

Working during the planned outage

For NZePS prescribers operating on Wednesday, 3 December 2025 between approximately 7.30pm-10.30pm:

• Pharmacies will not receive NZePS-sent prescriptions.
• Please print prescriptions or email them directly to the pharmacy during this period.
• Any NZePS prescriptions generated during the outage will be uploaded automatically once the system is restored.

Support

• For assistance, contact onlinehelpdesk@health.govt.nz.
• To report critical service outages, call 0800 855 066 (24/7).