Hon Jo Goodhew
Associate Minister of Health

26 March 2014

All DHBs have now have quality of care accounts

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has welcomed the publication of DHB Quality Accounts, saying they are another tool to ensure New Zealanders get the best and safest health care possible.

“Quality Accounts show that quality of care is core business for DHBs, by placing the reporting of quality on an equal footing with financial reporting. This is a more mature and transparent approach to healthcare,” says Mrs Goodhew.

“The reports assess the quality of health care services offered by each DHB and prioritise areas for improvement – for example, they might look at areas such as managing influenza, preventing patients in hospitals from being harmed, and responding to the needs of Māori and Pacific populations.

“Quality accounts enable DHBs to transparently share their successes and to jointly learn from things that could have been done differently or better. An important part of quality accounts is hearing about the experience consumers have had with health care services.

“The Quality Accounts highlight a range of really innovative approaches to quality improvement across the country.”

Examples include the introduction of yellow 'transfer of care' envelopes at Waitemata DHB which has improved the quality of information passed between facilities when a patient is transferred from a residential aged care facility to a hospital and back again.

The yellow envelopes provide essential information about each patient, allowing staff access to all the information they need in one easily identifiable place.

The first full set of Quality Accounts for 2012-2013 have now been published on the Health Quality & Safety Commission’s website. DHBs will begin working on the 2013-2014 reports after the end of the financial year.

ENDS

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