Govt prescribes targets for an ailing health system – and boasts of a “targeted” approach to lift kids’ literacy, too
The establishment of targets in our health system isn’t news.
In March 2024 the Government announced health targets for cancer treatment, childhood immunisation, emergency departments and wait times for first specialist assessments and elective treatment.
Targets were restored to replace the the Health System Indicators which had been introduced by the previous government (with no obvious benefits in terms of improving our ailing health services that we can discern).
The jury is out on how targets will improve those services, but the Government believes they
… will support the delivery of better health outcomes for New Zealanders and improve the performance of our health services throughout the country. Two targets (shorter stays in emergency departments and shorter wait times for first specialist appointments) are in the All of Government targets.
The Government intended publishing results quarterly beginning with “Quarter One 2024/25”.
And when is that? The tax year began on April 1. The government’s public year began on July 1.
Whatever the kickoff date, the government insists that having targets with regular reporting will help identify where there are problems which can be targeted for improvement.
Monitoring of health targets will sit within a wider suite of monitoring on health system performance by the Ministry.
So what’s new?
Point of Order had to do some drilling into a statement from Health Minister Shane Reti which opened:
The path to faster cancer treatment, an increase in immunisation rates, shorter stays in emergency departments and quick assessment and treatments when you are sick has been laid out today.
Education Minister Erica Stanford was banging on about targeting, too.
She brings news of the government delivering “targeted and structured literacy supports to accelerate learning for struggling readers”.
From Term 1 2025, $33 million of funding for Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Support will be reprioritised to interventions which align with structured approaches to teaching.
Stanford didn’t forget her Treaty commitments. Her media statement says:
Current supports will also be updated with the new curriculum for Years 3-8 and be available in te reo Māori.
Of the total $33 million, $29.1m per annum continues to fund staffing in schools. $4.1m is used for training and supports.
In an earlier statement, Stanford said that from 1 October, schools and kura with Years 0-3 will receive between $500 and $5000 per year over the next four years to support their purchases of structured literacy resources. Funding will be allocated to schools dependent on their roll size.
Eighty schools will trial the phonics check to ensure it is ready to roll out nationwide from the start of 2025. They will be done after 20 weeks of schooling and repeated after 40 weeks.
“It will help teachers and parents understand a child’s reading ability and wrap around additional support if needed.”
There was further news on the politically troubled health front, too.
The mpox vaccine Jynneos has been given provisional approval by Medsafe.
It has been used in New Zealand since 2023 to prevent mpox for those at greatest risk, under a specific provision in the Medicines Act.”
Medsafe’s provisional approval will mean it will provide greater access opportunities for those who need it.
The jury is out on how targets will improve those services, but the Government believes they
… will support the delivery of better health outcomes for New Zealanders and improve the performance of our health services throughout the country. Two targets (shorter stays in emergency departments and shorter wait times for first specialist appointments) are in the All of Government targets.
The Government intended publishing results quarterly beginning with “Quarter One 2024/25”.
And when is that? The tax year began on April 1. The government’s public year began on July 1.
Whatever the kickoff date, the government insists that having targets with regular reporting will help identify where there are problems which can be targeted for improvement.
Monitoring of health targets will sit within a wider suite of monitoring on health system performance by the Ministry.
So what’s new?
Point of Order had to do some drilling into a statement from Health Minister Shane Reti which opened:
The path to faster cancer treatment, an increase in immunisation rates, shorter stays in emergency departments and quick assessment and treatments when you are sick has been laid out today.
Education Minister Erica Stanford was banging on about targeting, too.
She brings news of the government delivering “targeted and structured literacy supports to accelerate learning for struggling readers”.
From Term 1 2025, $33 million of funding for Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Support will be reprioritised to interventions which align with structured approaches to teaching.
Stanford didn’t forget her Treaty commitments. Her media statement says:
Current supports will also be updated with the new curriculum for Years 3-8 and be available in te reo Māori.
Of the total $33 million, $29.1m per annum continues to fund staffing in schools. $4.1m is used for training and supports.
In an earlier statement, Stanford said that from 1 October, schools and kura with Years 0-3 will receive between $500 and $5000 per year over the next four years to support their purchases of structured literacy resources. Funding will be allocated to schools dependent on their roll size.
Eighty schools will trial the phonics check to ensure it is ready to roll out nationwide from the start of 2025. They will be done after 20 weeks of schooling and repeated after 40 weeks.
“It will help teachers and parents understand a child’s reading ability and wrap around additional support if needed.”
There was further news on the politically troubled health front, too.
The mpox vaccine Jynneos has been given provisional approval by Medsafe.
It has been used in New Zealand since 2023 to prevent mpox for those at greatest risk, under a specific provision in the Medicines Act.”
Medsafe’s provisional approval will mean it will provide greater access opportunities for those who need it.
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Shane Reti – on a visit to Hutt Valley Hospital today – was advising us that
“The path to faster cancer treatment, an increase in immunisation rates, shorter stays in emergency departments and quick assessment and treatments when you are sick has been laid out today.”
Earlier this year (he reminded us), he had announced
“… an ambitious new direction for health, reinvigorating five targets badly neglected by the previous government.
“Our targets are now tightly focused on five things that really matter: faster cancer treatment, increasing childhood immunisation, shorter stays in emergency departments and shorter wait times for assessments and treatment.
“We are planning to establish more community infusion centres so patients can access their chemotherapy closer to home.
“We will expand the number of beds and operating theatres in public hospitals and make greater use of capacity in private hospitals.
“We will make sure that there is a separation between acute care, which people need in a hurry, and planned care, such as a scheduled hip operation, so operating theatres are operating more efficiently and there will be fewer cancellations.
“There will also be new radiography machines for cancer treatment, expanded access to stem cell transplantation in main centres and more focus on patients who have waited more than a year to get them assessed or treated.”
Without clear targets, performance slipped, Reti said.
“We need to focus resources, attention and accountability to improve performance.”
The Commissioner of Health New Zealand had assured him these targets could and would be achieved within current resources and would come with regular and transparent reporting.
And Reti was further keen to remind us that:
“We’re already investing more in health than any Government in New Zealand’s history – around $30 billion a year.
“With that investment, we are also turning our backs on wasteful spending which doesn’t demonstrate better outcomes.
“Every dollar spent on health is precious, however dollar signs and numbers on a page won’t be the only way New Zealanders will see change in the health system.
“Our targets are designed so that every New Zealander should experience the change for themselves, however and whenever they need health care.
“Targets save lives.”
The same most definitely can be said of better-resourced hospitals.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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