Local DHB top performer

There were 10,697 presentations to the Hawke's Bay Hospital emergency department. Photo / File

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board was the best performer in the country at meeting health targets for the first three months of this year.

The board met Ministry of Health targets for shorter stays in emergency departments, improved access to elective surgery, increased immunisation, better help for smokers to quit and more heart and diabetes checks.

The only target it failed to achieve in the January to March quarter was for faster cancer treatment. All of the country's DHBs fell short of the cancer treatment target.

DHB chief executive Kevin Snee said the emergency department target could be achieved only by managing the whole hospital better.

The target was that 95 per cent of patients would be admitted, discharged or transferred from the emergency department within six hours.

A special programme of work that involved a large chunk of hospital services began late last year and was now seeing results, said Dr Snee.

The hospital was able to flex better under pressure and patient flow was managed much more carefully.

"This is only the second time we have achieved this target and I'm very pleased with the work and focus from everyone involved as we work to constantly improve patient care," said Dr Snee.

The target was achieved when the DHB had 10,697 presentations to the emergency department, which was 370 more than the same quarter last year.

Dr Snee said he was pleased the DHB had met five of the six targets.

"No other health system nationally had done better. The district health board is delivering on its commitment to the community, while at the same time it has also delivered a financial surplus for the past four consecutive years and is on track to deliver another this financial year."

He said this meant it had money to invest in staff, facilities and services. Finances would always be tight but it was in a better position than many other DHBs.

Dr Snee said the Bay DHB's failure to meet the new cancer treatment target was largely a data collection issue.

"We are working on getting that right and improving systems to help us meet this target," he said.

All the country's district health boards had still to meet the target for faster cancer treatment.

The target is - by July 2016 - that 85 per cent of patients will receive their first cancer treatment or management within 62 days of being referred.

Nationwide, DHBs met those time frames for 67 per cent of patients in the January to March quarter. During the previous quarter it met the time frames for 66 per cent of patients. The target would increase to 90 per cent by June 2017.

-NZME.