Progress on researching unmet health need

Progress on researching unmet health need

A research project to measure unmet health need among adults in New Zealand is making significant progress, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

Christchurch surgeon and Chair of the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust, Phil Bagshaw, is leading the project and he provided an update on progress to some of the country’s most senior doctors and dentists at the ASMS annual conference in Wellington today. Earlier this year, the ASMS contributed $10,000 toward the project’s costs.

Ian Powell says ASMS members have first-hand knowledge of patients missing out on specialist treatment or surgery, and they will be keen for good quality information about the extent of the problem.

“We know, both anecdotally and through figures made public about such things as the thresholds for hip and knee surgery, that an increasing number of people are just not getting the health care their doctors consider they need. This is a real source of distress, both for them and for the doctors treating them.”

Phil Bagshaw has previously spoken out extensively about how hard it is for some people to get treatment, including recently in this interview on Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon programme:http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201778593/are-patients-seeking-hip-knee-replacement-surgery-waiting-longer

He told the ASMS annual conference that his research project is at the stage of determining the best ways to measure unmet health need.

“At the moment there’s no standard way of measuring unmet need so we need to work that out before we can proceed to actually measuring how many people are missing out on health care,” he says. “We want this to be done properly so that New Zealanders end up with a good, robust way of assessing how well the public health system is working.”

This stage of the project involves three types of population sampling – face-to-face, telephone and web-based interviews – and also a study involving GPs in Auckland and Christchurch. GPs taking part will have a logo appear on their screen that identifies when they are recording an instance of unmet need.

Population sampling should be finished by Christmas and the GP study by March 2016. A team of analysts will then spend several months studying the data, with a view to publishing the results mid-year.

“Once we’ve collected and analysed the data we will then be pushing very hard for funding of an independent committee, separate from the Government, to do this type of survey every second year to give the public independent information about how the health system is functioning.

“People can then understand what they are getting for the current level of resourcing and what it would cost to deal with all of the unmet health need, and informed decisions could be made.”

ENDS

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