Emergency target missed

OFF TARGET: Emergency departments, like the one at Whangarei Hospital, above, have been told by the Ministry of Health to shorten stays - but Northland DHB is missing the target. PHOTO/FILE

The Northland District Health Board was the country's worst performer at meeting a Ministry of Health target for shorter stays in emergency departments in the first quarter of this year - but its chief executive says work is under way to help meet the target.

The ministry set a target that 95 per cent of patients should be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours. Northland DHB achieved 91 per cent.

NDHB chief executive Nick Chamberlain said the DHB's performance on the target deteriorated during the January to March quarter. That was due to unusually high levels of acute surgical and medical admissions. The DHB was increasing emergency department and ward staffing, and carrying out building renovations to enable more hospital beds in the emergency department and medical wards.

It also planned to build a new emergency department and acute assessment ward (AAW) within the next few years. Northland was the only DHB of its size without an AAW, which meant all patients had to go through the emergency department.

The Northland DHB also failed the ministry's target for faster cancer treatment. None of the country's DHBs have yet met the target for faster cancer treatment, the second time the target is being reported.

The target is - by July, 2016 - 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.

Dr Chamberlain said Northland's performance on the target deteriorated slightly in the most recent quarter. Although there was substantial improvement for patients with breast cancer, this was offset by deterioration in respect of lung and colorectal cancer.

Current initiatives to reduce waiting times for cancer treatment included the commissioning of a second CT scanner and a new MRI scanner, more timely medical oncology clinics, and reduced waiting times for colonoscopy investigations.

Dr Chamberlain said primary care and hospital smoking targets had been met and exceeded for the whole of the financial year.

Northland was the best performing DHB in New Zealand for elective surgeries. Waiting times for non-urgent elective surgery had been reduced to four months while the number of operations performed had also increased.

Northland rated second out of 20 DHBs for more heart and diabetes checks, exceeding targets.