Closer eye on health waiting lists

By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter

Health Minister Annette King has instructed officials to provide monthly evidence that hospitals are meeting the Government's six-month maximum limit on waiting times for surgery.

Mrs King said she had demanded a change from quarterly reports which are often six months behind to monthly figures which will be given to district health boards and posted on a website.

"The quarterly reports give us a snapshot but it's retrospective and sometimes things happen that they might have fallen off the pace but you pick it up too late," she said.

The move to more accurate reporting of waiting list figures is being made to avoid a repeat of the "debacle" in February last year when Mrs King claimed queues for surgery had been slashed 56 per cent (20,000 operations) in three months.

The figures were based on advice from the Ministry of Health but Mrs King's press release did not mention that some of the patients would have been reassessed, sent back to their GP or put in a new "active review" category.

About 25,000 patients are now on the active review list.

They are patients who doctors believe need surgery at some point but are not eligible under current funding criteria.

Their conditions are reviewed every six months.

The first of the new electronic monthly reports is expected to be available by the end of May. It will be posted on the Ministry of Health's website.

Ministry of Health

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