Wanganui's population is at a health disadvantage compared with other New Zealanders, a new report shows. But Wanganui Maori are worst off.
Compared to the whole of New Zealand, in the four years to 2010 the number of Whanganui Maori deaths were 142 per cent higher than expected. The figure for Maori overall was 90 per cent.
The information is in a Whanganui District Health Board health-needs assessment report, written in conjunction with MidCentral Health.
And its author, MidCentral clinical adviser (health information and data quality) Richard Fong, said the report will give the DHBs a good steer on where to put resources "for the most benefit for the region's high-needs populations ... "
The report says, in general, the health status of Whanganui DHB and MidCentral DHB residents is worse than that of people in the rest of New Zealand overall.
"The health status of MidCentral's residents is slightly worse than New Zealand overall; the health status of Whanganui residents is more markedly worse," the report said.
Whanganui DHB had especially high proportions of people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage, and Maori residents. The proportion of older people, another high-needs group, was also higher than elsewhere.
While mortality rates in New Zealand and MidCentral were improving, they were generally not changing in Whanganui and when they did drop, the rates remained much higher than the country's overall.
The biggest killers in Wanganui are circulatory system disease, which includes heart disease and diseases of the blood vessels, cancers, respiratory diseases, and accidents and injuries.
The main killer is ischaemic heart disease, like angina and heart attacks, and stroke which accounts for 35 per cent to 40 per cent of all deaths.
"For Whanganui DHB, circulatory system diseases and respiratory system diseases appear to be areas where more attention is warranted."
Whanganui DHB's respiratory mortality rates were higher than MidCentral DHB's and New Zealand's overall and appeared to be increasing. Whanganui DHB's respiratory mortality numbers were 28 per cent higher than expected, compared to New Zealand's overall. Deaths by accident in Wanganui were 27 per cent higher compared to the rest of the country.
The report's assessment was different to others because it looked at people first, then found the diseases that had the greatest impact on them, its author said.
"It's always the same groups of people who experience disadvantage across almost every social and health issue. It's much easier, for planning purposes, to consider these people at the forefront of thinking, rather than dividing everything up by individual diseases and re-considering the people-patterns afresh one disease at a time."
Whanganui DHB service and business planning general manager Tracey Schiebli said it was a reminder of the "vulnerability" of people in the Whanganui DHB district. It also demonstrated how the Whanganui DHB needed to work with other social agencies "on the things that influence health, wellbeing and community resilience".
The report will be discussed by the board in several weeks.