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Health Targets - Quarter 2 resultsback to Health Targets     
“We did it together as a team, let’s continue to improve”|
 | The
Minister of Health and therefore the health sector focuses on two
things: financial performance and the six health targets. Waikato DHB
mostly sits in mid to lower place in health targets for quarter two
(three months ended 31 December 2009). However, our emergency
departments are the most improved in New Zealand this quarter. We
can do better and together as a team we will do whatever we need to do
to lift our performance even higher across all health targets. Below is
the latest table, my comments on each target (in shaded blue) and those
of the Ministry’s health target champions. - Craig Climo, Chief Executive, Waikato DHB | |
Media releaseShorter stays in Emergency Departments
The target is 95 percent of patients will be admitted, discharged,
or transferred from an Emergency Department (ED) within six hours.
The target is a measure of the efficiency of flow of acute (urgent) patients through public hospitals, and home again. To achieve this target with good, sustainable improvements is expected to take up to two years for many hospitals. Craig Climo:
The best improvement among all 21 DHBs came from Waikato DHB, which improved by 12 per cent to 79 per cent. I’m very grateful for the effort that is going in to this. It suggests that whole of hospital improvements are being made which is just what we’re looking for.  Mike Ardagh - Shorter stays in Emergency Departments champion:
Waikato DHB’s performance against the shorter stays in Emergency Departments (ED) health target improved significantly to 79 percent in quarter two, from 67 percent in quarter one. Although Waikato DHB is still some distance away from achieving the 95 percent target, this improvement is encouraging and shows that the DHB is focusing effort in this target area. Continued implementation of Waikato DHB’s delivery plan for shorter stays in ED, led by the champions with strong support from across the DHB, should result in continued and sustained improvements in performance and achievement of the target by the end of 2010/11. | 
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Media release: Waikato hospitals close in on ED targetImproved access to elective surgery|
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The target is an increase in the volume of elective surgery by an average of 4000 discharges
per year
.
Craig Climo:
We
are
well ahead of plan and in this context the ranking loses
meaningfulness. That we’ve increased capacity is
due to the great work
of not only our surgical people but again suggests that whole of
hospital
improvements are being felt. Waikato DHB was one of eight
DHBs, which delivered over five percent more discharges than their
target.  Clare Perry: Improved access to elective surgery champion:
Waikato
DHB achieved an outstanding level of delivery for this health target in
the year to date. The Ministry looks forward to Waikato continuing this
performance and achieving its target number of elective surgical
discharges at year end.
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Increased Immunisation|
The national immunization target is for 85 percent of two-year
olds* to be fully immunised by July 2010; 90 percent by July 2011; and
95 percent by July 2012.
* This quarterly progress result
includes children who turned two years between October and December
2009 and who were fully immunised at that stage.Craig Climo:The
results are mainly driven outside the hospitals (although the hospitals
have the opportunistic immunisation) and a lot of time and money is
going into immunising the hard to reach groups. This is just one of
two indicators that we showed progress on in quarter two.  Pat Tuohy: Increased immunisation champion:
The
DHB has encouraging results and much innovative activity in the DHB.
This is beginning to pay dividends with significant quarterly
increases. The DHB will need to provide a leadership role for a
regional approach with Lakes, Tairawhiti and Bay of Plenty all
struggling to get to 80 percent coverage. |  |
Media release: Waikato’s innovation pays off for targetShorter waits for cancer treatment
|  The target is everyone needing radiation treatment will have this within six weeks of their first specialist assessment by the end of July 2010 and within four weeks by December 2010. Six regional oncology centres provide radiation oncology services. These centres are in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Craig Climo:We’ve got the best radiotherapy service in NZ and I’m disappointed the ranking doesn’t convey it. Waikato Regional Cancer Centre had three patients wait for capacity reasons in October, but regularly accepts referrals from other centres where there are capacity issues, including Auckland patients. John Ch ilds: Shorter waits for cancer treatment champion:I congratulate the DHB for a good performance against the target (99 per cent) noting that the centre continues to accept patients for treatment from other centres. To ensure consistency of performance, the target reporting changed to include data from the full three-month period rather than the final one-month of the reporting period. This resulted in no substantial change to the reported results to date.
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Better help for smokers to quit
 The target is that 80 percent of hospitalized smokers will be provided with advice and help to quit by July 2010; 90 percent by July 2011; and 95 percent by July 2012. The data covers patients presenting to Emergency Departments, day stay and other hospital based interventions. Craig Climo:We’re ranked high but it’s cold comfort given our actual performance.It is well short of the target and this is the one indicator that most widely involves staff. I ask all health professionals to be active in recording smoking status and offering intervention. The process is simple and does not take long to implement the treatment options.Choosing not to smoke is the single biggest lifestyle choice our patients can make. Waikato DHB achieved a higher prevalence rate so is identifying more smokers.  Ashley Bloomfield and Bruce Arroll: Better help for smokers to quit champions:
The DHB was a high performer in this target in quarter one, however there has only been a slight increase in the proportion of smokers offered advice and help to quit in quarter two. Given that we are already into quarter three, there needs to be a concerted effort now to make the required improvement in performance in quarters three and four. As with all health targets, the Minister has made clear that the tobacco target is non-negotiable. | 
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Media release: Smoking cessation referrals on the riseBetter diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) services:|
|  This graph represents the average progress made by a DHB towards three target indicators: (a) an increased percent of the eligible adult population will have had their cardiovascular disease risk assessed in the last five years; (b) an increased percent of people with diabetes will attend free annual checks; (c) an increased percent of people with diabetes will have satisfactory or better diabetes management.
Craig Climo:This indicator is more complex than the others and the least meaningful to the public and us alike. The Q2 performance doesn’t reveal that a lot more patients have been identified in the target group and as they are treated and their conditions brought under control that our performance should improve significantly.  Sandy Dawson: Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Services champion:
This DHB has the full range of services to excel in the diabetes/CVD national health target. At present, performance on this target is satisfactory, but trended down from quarter one to quarter two.
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