New data shows that the Government’s focus on health targets is putting the brakes on the steep decline in delivery seen over the past five years.

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says while there is much more work to do, health target results in the three months to 30 September are encouraging, as we see them stabilise.

“Our health system is providing more care for more New Zealanders than ever before,” says Dr Reti.

“Between July and September, we saw improvements in faster cancer treatments and shorter waits for elective treatment, while wait times for specialist assessments stabilised.

“Almost 4,550 New Zealanders were treated for cancer in those three months, with just under 4,000 of those Kiwis receiving their first treatment within a month.

“The health system provided 87,890 elective treatments, including over 1,500 knee replacements and more than 1,700 hip replacements.

“It’s important to acknowledge however, that childhood immunisations and emergency department wait times continue to be a challenge, which isn’t unusual during the winter months when this data was collected.

“Although people still waited longer at ED than we’d like, and for specialist assessments compared to the previous quarter, this came alongside a significant increase in the number of people seen during the winter surge.

“We usually see people waiting longer in ED during winter, coinciding with an increase in respiratory diseases like whooping cough and the flu. This means more people presenting to EDs and staying in hospital.

“Generally, ED wait times in this data set are the same as they were at the same time last year, despite the highest rates of hospital admissions for respiratory illness in almost a decade and about 18,000 more people presenting to EDs.

“We also provided approximately 12,000 more specialist assessments than the same time last year – an increase of almost seven per cent.

“This indicates that wait times for specialist assessments are beginning to stabilise.”

Immunisations continue to be concerning in the wake of vaccine hesitancy that has grown since the COVID pandemic.

“Child immunisation rates are affected by the same seasonal trends but we still need to continue the efforts to work with parents on life-saving immunisations for their babies.

“We have invested $50 million in Māori health providers to deliver immunisations and we are training more health workers as vaccinators, but we have more to do to turn this target around.

“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of health workers across the country, the health system is providing more care for Kiwis than ever before.

“I am encouraged by the overall trend of these results and look forward to seeing more improvements in the coming year.”

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