MEDIA RELEASE
August 27, 2013
Performance remains strong in key health targets
Canterbury District Health Board’s performance in key health targets has remained strong with more people receiving
complex surgeries than ever before.
According to the fourth quarter results of the national health targets released today, the Canterbury District Health
Board met or exceeded four of the seven government targets to end the 2012-2013 financial year.
David Meates, CDHB chief executive, says ongoing efforts from those across the health system continued to pay dividends
in the health targets performance.
“Amazing efforts have been made despite the challenges of living and working in and around construction zones post
earthquakes,” Mr Meates says.
“We have seen impressive gains, particularly in ensuring more people get their operations in a timely manner or receive
the critical cancer treatment they desperately need as soon as possible.”
However, Mr Meates says reduced hospital capacity post quakes has meant the Emergency Department target has been harder
to achieve over the last four quarters.
“We reached the target, but it’s taken a massive whole health system effort to maintain patient flow through our system.
“Strategies to care for people in the community remain highly successful, and the hospital’s new Acute Medical
Assessment Unit (AMAU) has now opened, the ED target will continue to be challenging until more capacity comes on line
with the hospital rebuild programme.”
Mr Meates says the Canterbury health system has achieved a lot in the last year, but still has a long way to go.
“I am impressed with the continued efforts the primary health teams have made to improve results in the smokers and
heart health checks targets. It’s good to see steady progress being made. Improvements to the way this data is recorded
should see further increases next quarter.
Mr Meates says the next year will bring even more challenges as the health system heads into another challenging year of
post earthquake recovery.
“It will take ongoing focus and commitment from across the health system to maintain the best patient care possible,” Mr
Meates says.
How CDHB performed:
Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments
Target: 95%
Canterbury: 95%
Improved Access to Elective Surgery
Target:16,110
Canterbury: Achieved 106% of the full-year electives health target, delivering 17,066 elective surgeries.
Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment
Target: 100%
Canterbury: 100%
Increased Immunisation
Target: 85%
Canterbury: 92%
Better Help for Hospitalised Smokers to Quit
Target: 95%
Canterbury: 93%
Primary Care Better help for Smokers to Quit
Target: 90%
Canterbury: 35%
Primary Care More Heart and Diabetes Checks
Target: 75%
Canterbury: 33%
Further information on the Quarter 4 Health Targets is available here:
For the 2012-13 Quarter Four Health Target results click here.
For FAQs click here.
ENDS