At a glance:
In cancer, 83.5 per cent of patients were treated within 31 days, compared to 82.7 per cent previously — an 0.8 per cent increase.
In emergency departments, 71.1 per cent were admitted, discharged or transferred within six hours, compared to 70.1 per cent last quarter — a one per cent increase.
In elective surgery, 61.4 per cent of patients received their planned care within four months, compared to 57.7 per cent previously — a 3.7 per cent improvement (1519 fewer people waiting for surgery, according to Reti).
Specialist appointments waiting times improved by 1.9 per cent.
Childhood immunisation rates dropped from 77.2 per cent to 76.5 per cent in the past quarter.
Minister of Health Shane Reti last month said he was “pleased to see positive progress” in four of five health targets in the first quarterly report to June 30.
Cancer, specialist assessment, elective surgery and emergency department wait times all improved slightly. Reti expected even faster cancer treatment “in the coming months” with new medicines such as Keytruda now available.
‘Primary health continues to be under the pump to provide all the services that it normally provides . . . and provide timely vaccinations.’
However a fifth target — childhood immunisation within two years — dropped from 77.2 per cent to 76.5 per cent.
Reti acknowledged there was “more work to do” but added the figure was due to more accurate reporting by Te Whatu Ora since December 2023.
“With the move to the Aotearoa Immunisation Register, we now have a more accurate picture of eligible New Zealanders and where each of them is in their vaccination schedule.”
Christchurch practice nurse Daana Watson “wasn’t surprised” that childhood vaccination rates weren’t improving, given the pressure primary health care (PHC) was under after years of neglect.
“PHC continues to be under the pump to provide all the services that it normally provides, eg cardiovascular risk assessments, diabetes annual reviews, cervical screening, wound care, warfarin monitoring, meeting quit smoking targets, mental health, contraception management, pernicious anaemia management . . . oh, and by the way provide timely vaccinations for all our enrolled population.”
Those not enrolled with a practice — many of which had closed due to funding and staffing pressures — would continue to fall through the cracks, she said.
‘It should not be solely focused as an ED responsibility.’
With pharmacies and Whānau Āwhina Plunket now also offering immunisations, the effect of separating the “holistic” care provided to families by PHC nurses among other organisations was evident, through the dropping immunisation rates.
Years of underfunding and being taken for granted, as well as COVID, had diminished PHC nurse workforce numbers, making it difficult to provide the holistic care needed to maintain immunisation rates, she said.
Primary health was losing staff to Te Whatu Ora or overseas for better pay, while remaining nurses and GPs were getting older and close to retirement.
Recruiting delays
NZNO college of emergency nurses New Zealand (CENNZ) secretary Vicky Bijl said long delays in getting vacancies approved meant many EDs were working with unsafe staffing shortfalls.
This made it hard to meet the targets, she said. Hospitals as a whole also needed to take responsibility for ED targets, given the pressure to admit patients more quickly.
“It should not be solely focused as an ED responsibility,” she told Kaitiaki.
Safe staffing tool Trendcare also needed to be embedded in all 20 EDs to ensure they were safely staffed to meet demand, she said — a move that was not yet complete.
Safe staffing is a key focus of Te Whatu Ora-NZNO 2024/25 bargaining, currently underway. However Te Whatu Ora has said it plans to pause its safe staffing calculations due to regional inconsistencies, sparking huge concern.
The Government in April announced five new health targets for faster cancer, emergency and specialist care as well as elective surgery and more vaccinations.
NZNO’s cancer nurses college has previously expressed concern about the flow-on workload effects for already-stretched nurses of 26 new cancer drugs becoming available. Investment in more oncology nurses, cancer nurse coordinators, nurse practitioners and nurse prescribers was needed, chair Shelley Seay said.