Health targets are back – but we heard of them from the ministry before the PM and Shane Reti posted their good news
The Ministry of Health website early this afternoon advised that the Government had announced health targets for cancer treatment, childhood immunisation, emergency departments and wait times for first specialist assessments and elective treatment.
These targets are intended to support the delivery of better health outcomes for New Zealanders and improve the performance of health services throughout the country.
The Government plans to publish results quarterly beginning with the first quarter of 2024/25.
A monitoring framework will be in place from 1 July 2024 to monitor target implementation as well as wider priorities.
At the time we were finding out about the targets, the government had yet to post the news on its official website.
But Health Minister Shane Reti’s speech to the Iwi-Maori Partnership Boards in Christchurch on Wednesday did portend an announcement.
In the speech, Reti said his vision is that all New Zealanders will have timely access to quality healthcare.
That is the mission statement. I agree with ED doctors that targets save lives. This is why I will be setting clear health targets. These will bring attention, resources, and the accountability that’s needed to deliver quality care in a timely manner.
Reti proceeded to talk of taking a journey in an indigenous vessel, presumably powered by a crew of paddlers, in preference – let’s say – to a vessel designed by the America’s Cup team:
The direction of our waka will be reflected by the GPS, New Zealand Health Plan and the Letters of Expectation to Chief Executives and Boards. These will be reflected by our five health targets, five behaviour modifiers and five pathologies. And while our vision may differ, the objectives in Pae Tu and the Whakamaua Action Plan remain in place and already neatly sit within these priorities.
GPS?
Ask the minister.
It might mean Geographical Positioning System, but that would be to incorporate modern technology on the waka, an affront to traditional navigational practitionermethods which may well prompt a request for a hearing by the Waitangi Tribunal.
Perhaps it means “Government Policy Statement”
A bit further on Reti said:
I have outlined my priorities for the health system, specifically that New Zealanders have timely access to quality health care. There will be 5 targets that I will describe shortly but I have already flagged immunisation as an important target. Specifically on immunisation, I am deeply concerned for how a measles outbreak will affect our babies.
I also want to see the health system increase its focus on addressing non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, respiratory disease, heart disease and poor mental health.
I want to see continuing reductions in smoking and alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and a lack of exercise as well as adverse social and environmental factors that lead to poor health outcomes.
But none of that gelled with the Ministry of Health’s information about the targets:
A monitoring framework will be in place from 1 July 2024 to monitor target implementation as well as wider priorities.
At the time we were finding out about the targets, the government had yet to post the news on its official website.
But Health Minister Shane Reti’s speech to the Iwi-Maori Partnership Boards in Christchurch on Wednesday did portend an announcement.
In the speech, Reti said his vision is that all New Zealanders will have timely access to quality healthcare.
That is the mission statement. I agree with ED doctors that targets save lives. This is why I will be setting clear health targets. These will bring attention, resources, and the accountability that’s needed to deliver quality care in a timely manner.
Reti proceeded to talk of taking a journey in an indigenous vessel, presumably powered by a crew of paddlers, in preference – let’s say – to a vessel designed by the America’s Cup team:
The direction of our waka will be reflected by the GPS, New Zealand Health Plan and the Letters of Expectation to Chief Executives and Boards. These will be reflected by our five health targets, five behaviour modifiers and five pathologies. And while our vision may differ, the objectives in Pae Tu and the Whakamaua Action Plan remain in place and already neatly sit within these priorities.
GPS?
Ask the minister.
It might mean Geographical Positioning System, but that would be to incorporate modern technology on the waka, an affront to traditional navigational practitionermethods which may well prompt a request for a hearing by the Waitangi Tribunal.
Perhaps it means “Government Policy Statement”
A bit further on Reti said:
I have outlined my priorities for the health system, specifically that New Zealanders have timely access to quality health care. There will be 5 targets that I will describe shortly but I have already flagged immunisation as an important target. Specifically on immunisation, I am deeply concerned for how a measles outbreak will affect our babies.
I also want to see the health system increase its focus on addressing non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, respiratory disease, heart disease and poor mental health.
I want to see continuing reductions in smoking and alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and a lack of exercise as well as adverse social and environmental factors that lead to poor health outcomes.
But none of that gelled with the Ministry of Health’s information about the targets:
- Faster cancer treatment
This target drives better co-ordinated, faster quality care for patients with cancer.
The target: 90%
Latest data: 84%*
- Improved immunisation
95% of children fully immunised at 24 months of age.
Countries such as Australia, the UK and Canada have a 95% target. It provides effective immunity for the New Zealand population.
The target: 95%
Latest data: 83%*
Countries such as Australia, the UK and Canada have a 95% target. It provides effective immunity for the New Zealand population.
The target: 95%
Latest data: 83%*
- Shorter stays in emergency departments
Emergency department wait times provide a barometer for the health of hospitals and the level of pressure in the system. Flows through this system need to improve.
The target: 95%
Latest data: 66%*
- Shorter wait times for first specialist assessment
Ensuring that New Zealanders get timely access when they are referred to a specialist is important so people have greater certainty about their conditions and whether they need further elective treatment.
The target: 95%
Latest data: 66.4%*
- Shorter wait times for elective treatment
Not all New Zealanders have access to elective treatment at the right time. People will now have certainty that they will receive treatment in a reasonable time.
The target: 95%
Latest data: 61.5%*
Around 1pm today, RNZ reported:
Christopher Luxon announces health targets to cap off 100-day plan
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Health Minister Shane Reti are announcing “five major health targets” to cap off the government’s 100-day plan.
The pair are speaking at Whangārei Hospital after a visit to the radiation oncology facility there.
The targets reported by RNZ square with those set out on the ministry website.
The Taxpayers Union was among the first organisations to react:
Responding to the Government’s announcement that five key outcomes-focused health targets are set to be introduced, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:
“Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polling last year showed that 70% of New Zealanders believed the health system had got worse since 2020. Given Labour spent their time in Government running from accountability by scrapping public sector targets at any opportunity, that should come as no surprise.
“Health spending has increased by over 45% since 2020, but all the while health outcomes have been plummeting. The last Government’s policy of blindly chucking billions into its own bureaucratic mess and hoping for the best was destined to fail from the start.”
A return of effective health targets should be welcomed across the board. There is no other policy area where bang-for-buck is as important as healthcare, and hopefully this signals a renewed focus on outcomes, Ross said.
Oh – and later in the afternoon, we found this freshly posted on the government’s official website:
Latest from the Beehive
8 MARCH 2024
Today’s announcement of five major health targets means the coalition Government has delivered all 49 actions in its 100-day plan.
8 MARCH 2024
The coalition Government’s commitment to five key health targets will drive better outcomes for all New Zealanders, in the concluding announcement to its 100 day plan.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
2 comments:
It’s a pity after the COVID vaccines debacle that the government has not woken up to the thought that vaccines might be a con. Overall public health education is way more important.
Bloodletting was once sacrosanct based on deeply held medical beliefs. We might laugh at the theories now but it was considered best practice at the time. Yet the same Pandora’s box theory this time that vaccines are perfect and sacred, exists today.
So why is it inherently safe to fill tiny bodies up with multiple chemicals and poisons even before
their natural immune systems have developed than dismiss counter indications ( unless approved) as anecdotal and/ or irrelevant.
Just like parents who fill their babies and small children up with ‘child’ paracetamol and so develop the principle that pain to child/ inconvenience to caregiver is best managed by drugs.
Vaccines and baby paracetamol are a great way to manage the masses.
Prima facie controversial comments - well of course. Untrue - take your time and think it through.
I completely agree with all anonymous 5:13 AM says.
I would add that more nutritional advice should be included in medical studies.
Most people I know take supplements and quite rightly in my opinion, have a healthy skepticism of Big Pharma interested in money and power.
The vaccine mandates have made the medical,so called profession, into compliant psychopaths. Doctors for generations have had too much power and been treated as gods.
Evidence is coming out thick and fast that the vaccines kill. May the day of reckoning come very soon.
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