Death rate one of worst

Wairarapa's rate of potentially preventable deaths is worse than the national average for district health boards.

According to a recently released Treasury report - which quotes Health Ministry 2009 "amenable mortality" rates - for every 1000 people aged under 75 in the Wairarapa DHB region, at least one death could have been prevented if health care was given more effectively or sought sooner.

The national average was just under 1 per 1000.

Amenable deaths include premature deaths from infections, cancers, birth complications, injuries and chronic illnesses.

The Times-Age asked Wairarapa DHB whether it was concerned about the potentially preventable death rate, why its rate was above the national average, and what had been done to address the figures. But the board has so far not provided a response, despite being contacted on Tuesday morning.

However, Whanganui DHB, which had the nation's third worst amenable death rate, said the statistics failed to adjust for social and ethnic differences.

"People from more deprived circumstances, as well as Maori and Pacific peoples in general, do not enjoy the same health status as other New Zealanders," chief executive Julie Patterson said.

Hawke's Bay DHB, which had a similar rate to Wairarapa, said its above-average rate reflected a "higher proportion than average of poor, disadvantaged and unemployed" people in its region.

Significant numbers of Maori and elderly residents were also likely to factor in the statistics, said Hawke's Bay's chief medical officer, Dr John Gommans.

Of New Zealand's 20 district health boards, Tairawhiti DHB had the nation's highest rate (1.8).

Waitemata in Auckland had the lowest, at about 0.7 per 1000.

Overall, New Zealand's amenable mortality rate declined from 2001 to 2009.

In 2007, it was slightly lower than the 31-country average for members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Health Ministry, which released the DHB comparison as part of a Treasury report on health policy options, said the rates were "a key indicator of health system effectiveness and access to health care".

Tairawhiti DHB chief health official Jim Green said Gisborne's high rate of poverty and large Maori population played a significant role in the region's high amenable death rate.

"We have the most highly deprived population of any DHB in New Zealand, a factor which is associated with, but not completely related to, the Maori population proportion in the DHB being the highest - and significantly higher than any other DHB."

The estimates did not take into account ethnicity, sex and deprivation.

See: www.treasury.govt.nz/government/longterm/externalpanel/pdfs/ltfep-s4-01.pdf APNZ & APN