Health Targets - Second quarter results released

The second quarter results of the 2009/10 Health Targets have been published within national and local newspapers today.  Northland DHB results indicate some areas of performance improvement and other areas where performance has declined. 

Published to encourage public scrutiny of the health sector, the six health targets cover shorter stays in the emergency department, smoking, immunisation, diabetes and cardiovascular services as well as reduced waiting times for critical cancer treatment and elective surgery.

Dr Nick Chamberlain, Northland DHB's spokesperson and Clinical Services general manager says further progress to achieve the national targets is well underway for shorter stays in ED, improved immunisation rates, better help for smokers to quit and better diabetes and cardiovascular service. 

"The target - help for hospitalised smokers - saw the implementation of new data collection methods for our staff, so to see this target increased from 12% to 29% this quarter, is very satisfying."

"Electives continue to be delivered to a very high standard but although Northland children are being immunised to the appropriate level but the completed course of immunisation for some is being delivered after the Health Target age of 2 years old," said Dr Chamberlain.

"So although we are achieving outstanding results in some areas, there is still further work required in others but we do have until July 2010 to ensure we meet the Government health targets."

Shorter waits for radiotherapy, delivered by Auckland DHB, has fallen short of the 100% target this quarter - stretching from a 6 week wait to approximately 6.3 weeks. This decrease was anticipated by Auckland, following an influx of referrals late last year coupled with a linear accelerator being decommissioned for replacement.

Each target is one of a number of methods we use to measure our performance and while these new targets have been challenging to implement, they will produce measurable gains in patient care through steady improvement.

Health targets do not replace other health priorities but are essential performance indicators, providing district health boards a focus for action and can be measured as to the impact they are making in improving health for all New Zealanders.

To obtain a copy of the Health Target results or for more information visit the Ministry of Health's health target website http://www.moh.govt.nz/healthtargets.


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For further information contact:

Fleur King
Public Relations Manager
Northland District Health Board
Phone: 09-470 0000 extn 3315

 2009/10 Health Target - Northland results 2nd quarter 121.06 Kb