Health target efforts ramp up

MEDIA RELEASE

February 25, 2014

Health target efforts ramp up

Efforts to check Cantabrian’s heart and diabetes status, as well as help smokers to quit are gaining momentum, according to the latest results in the National Health Targets.

In the second quarter of 2013/2014 Canterbury District Health Board has achieved five of the seven targets.

David Meates, Canterbury DHB chief executive, says the results speak for themselves with Canterbury continuing to perform in key areas as well as gain traction in those it had been lagging.

“The Better Help for Smokers to Quit: Primary Care has jumped 12 percent to 49 percent from results achieved in quarter one, while More Heart and Diabetes Checks has also seen an increased performance to 45 percent,” Mr Meates says.

“Although we are still well below the 90 percent target for both of these targets, we’ve made some significant gains in the six months.”

As reported previously, the late inclusion of Canterbury’s largest Primary Health Organisation – with over 75 percent of the DHB’s enrolled population – in the PHO Performance Programme has an ongoing impact on Canterbury’s results.

“A number of activities have been underway to improve our results including better data capturing through improving our IT systems and tools, as well as ongoing education and clinical engagement.”

Canterbury has returned to achieving 95 percent for the Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments after falling behind in the first quarter of 2013/2014.

“This is a great effort given the ongoing challenges. We continue to monitor the Christchurch rebuild population, which has resulted in increased ED attendances by non-enrolled 20 to 29 year olds,” Mr Meates says.

“A number of solutions have been considered and we continue to focus on promoting access to primary care, including encouraging those new to the city to register with a General Practice team.”

Results in Improved Access to Elective Surgery continue to exceed the 100 percent target, achieving 102 percent of Canterbury’s target delivery.

“This is a significant achievement in light of the reduced bed capacity resulting from the earthquakes and disruptions from quake repair work that is ongoing and will continue to impact for years to come.”

Other key achievements have been the Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment with 100 percent performance, and Increased Immunisation which improved on the first quarter’s results by three percent.

“Canterbury achieved strong results for Pacific (97 percent), Asian (96 percent) and New Zealand European (96 percent) children in quarter two. But results were weaker for Maori children (86 percent). A working group under the Canterbury Immunisation Service Level Alliance is reviewing why Maori whanau are declining immunisation and why Maori children are overdue at milestone age to address this issue,” Mr Meates says.

To view the health targets go to:  http://cdhb.health.nz/What-We-Do/Pages/Health-Targets.aspx  or  http://cdhb.health.nz/What-We-Do/Documents/ht_q2_2013_14_dhb-canterbury.pdf

ENDS

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