Taranaki District Health Board Health Targets 2010-2011 - Second Quarter

2 March 2011

The second quarter health targets of 2010-2011 have been released by the Ministry of Health. 
Ministry of Health - Health Targets website

The Taranaki health sector continues working towards the targets, which are indicative of a wider range of services and efforts in priority areas.

“Whilst we are delighted where we have improved, we are committed to working towards achieving all of the targets, while still recognising there are areas for improvement,” Planning and Funding, and Population Health General Manger Sandra Boardman says.

She says a focus on the six key areas is important to continue to improve health, reduce inequalities and improve the quality of health services for local people. “The targets provide a useful indication of how we are doing.”

The health targets are:

1) Shorter Stays in ED. Target 95%, Achieved 94%
An acute pathway project is underway that identifies and reduces the barriers to achieve shorter stays in the ED. We aim to have of 95% of all patients seen and discharged within 6 hours.  The Ministry have endorsed our approach however achieving the last few percent to reach the 94% target will be difficult and will require a concentrated and focused effort. This challenge is accepted by our team as we focus on the ongoing work to improve the flow of patients in our acute pathway work. 

2) Improved Access to Elective Surgery: Target 100%, Achieved 103%
Taranaki residents received higher than planned levels of elective surgery – 103% for the quarter – with 2243 people receiving elective surgery across all providers.  This is a very pleasing result but we will continue to be vigilant in our efforts to maintain our target.

3) Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment: Target 100%, Achieved 100%
We plan to maintain our collaborative relationship with MidCentral DHB to maintain the 100% cancer waiting time target.

4) Increased Immunisation: Target 90%, Achieved 92%
Increasing immunisation rates are a priority in order to reduce the incidence of preventable disease in our community. Taranaki has exceeded the target for this quarter.  The DHB is working closely with the PHOs in Taranaki to educate and inform the community on the benefits and importance of immunisation.

5) Better Help for Smokers to Quit: Target 90%, Achieved 60%
This was a disappointing quarter result but with the employment of a dedicated staff member we are looking to see an improvement in this target over the coming months

6) Better Diabetes and Cardiovascular: Achieved 87%
Taranaki DHB tops the country in this target and the DHB continues to support the PHOs in ensuring there are services in place to meet this target. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease continue to contribute to ill health in the Taranaki population.

Last updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2013