Photo: UnSplash/ Stephen Andrews
The government has met three out of five milestones in the first year of measuring its health targets, with the Health Minister celebrating shorter waits and faster cancer treatments.
But child immunisation rates are still short of where the government hoped they would be, with Northland significantly lower than other regions, and shorter stays in emergency departments are just shy of its milestone.
Last year, the government set five targets to measure progress in the health system, with the hope of improving healthcare in New Zealand.
- 90 percent of patients to receive cancer treatment within 31 days of the decision to treat (first annual milestone of 86 percent).
- 95 percent of children immunised at 24 months of age (first annual milestone of 84 percent).
- 95 percent of patients to be admitted, discharged, or transferred from an emergency department within six hours (first annual milestone of 74 percent).
- 95 percent of patients waiting less than four months for a first specialist assessment (first annual milestone of 62 percent).
- 95 percent of patients waiting less than four months for elective treatment (first annual milestone of 63 percent).
The latest quarterly update on the health targets, for Q4 2024-25 from April to June, mark the first annual milestone toward the 2030 target.
The percentage of patients receiving cancer treatment within a month is now 86 percent, up from 84.6 percent in the last quarter, and meeting the target milestone. Most health districts have shown improvements except for Counties Manukau, Lakes, Taranaki, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, MidCentral, Capital and Coast and South Canterbury where fewer patients were seen than in the previous quarter.
The target of having 95 percent of children immunised at 24 months of age, with a milestone of 84 percent, is short at 82 percent this quarter. It's up from 79.3 percent last quarter, but some districts are struggling, with Taranaki, Whanganui, Gisborne, Nelson Marlborough and Canterbury dropping.
Northland also continues to drop, with the lowest rates in the country at 62.3 percent - down from 66.4 percent last quarter.
The government wants 95 percent of patients admitted, discharged, or transferred from an emergency department within six hours by 2023, with a milestone of 74 percent this year. This quarter was just shy at 73.9 percent, down from the last quarter which met the milestone at 74.2 percent.
Health Minister Simeon Brown. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Districts such as Auckland, Counties Manukau, Gisborne, South Canterbury and Southern saw a downward trend compared to the same quarter last year.
Another milestone met, 62 percent of patients are now waiting less than four months for a first specialist assessment, up from 58.2 percent last quarter, that's 73,147 people out of 192, 671. Lakes, Wairarapa and the West Coast were the only districts that saw a drop in the trend, with both Wairarapa and West Coast falling around 5 percent compared to last quarter.
Shorter waits for elective treatments saw the largest quarterly improvements, a jump of 6.6 percentage points, from 57.3 percent last quarter to 63.9 percent this quarter - meeting the milestone set by the government. All districts saw an improvement in this target this quarter.
'Improving steadily'
Health Minister Simeon Brown said this data showed clear improvements, with shorter waits, faster treatment and more timely access to care benefiting patients in New Zealand.
"After years of decline, healthcare is improving steadily under this government," Brown said.
He referenced the Elective Boost plan that added more than 16,000 procedures from February to June this year by partnering with the private sector, and helping to reduce wait times for elective treatments.
"The latest results show the health system is turning a corner after the sharp decline that followed the removal of health targets by the previous government," he said, thanking doctors, nurses, and other frontline staff for making the improvement possible.
But he said there was more work to do.
Appearing on Morning Report, Brown praised the significant amount of work done by frontline health staff to make these improvements, but acknowledged there was "still a long way to go".
He said district-by-district reporting highlighted where there was need for improvement.
"Some districts have gone backwards," Brown said. "...Where there are challenges, there are plans in place to address those challenges."
For example, in Northland, where there is a current measles outbreak, vaccination rates have dropped four percent over the last quarter. Brown said there are pop-up vaccination clinics being run and the government has invested in its Immunising our Tamariki programme.
"There is a huge amount of work and effort going in to improving the immunisation rates," Brown said.
But he said there was more work to do.
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