Medical test results are to be shared more widely in the Canterbury region under an initiative being adopted by the local district health board.
The TestSafe South initiative, being introduced by the Canterbury District Health Board, will give hospital doctors and nurses access to patient laboratory results on a secure DHB database.
It will also eventually give family doctors access to information about the hospital care of their patients.
The district health board says the system will be secure, but patients can opt out if they don't want their results to be shared.
It says sharing the information will boost care and reduce the number of blood and other samples needing to be taken.
Auckland health boards are already using the system and plan to expand it to include medicines.