First data from new national collection

Media Release

First data from new national collection

Date: 26 April, 2016

The Ministry of Health has today published the first release of developmental data from Phase 1 of the new National Patient Flow national collection.

National Patient Flow is a significant development which, in its full form, will measure the patient journey through secondary care services.

It will provide information on the patients referred for specialist services, the outcome of referrals and the time it takes patients to access care.

Today’s first data publication shows referrals for First Specialist Assessment, received between 1 July 2015 and 30 September 2015, and whether these referrals were accepted, declined or transferred.

The Ministry clinical leader on prioritisation, Dr Chris McEwan, says some of this information has never been gathered before, and will build understanding around where there is unmet referred demand.

‘Patients of course care very much about what happens to their referrals to secondary care. So too do those hospitals, who have to make decisions within finite resources, and primary care, who are very important in ongoing care.’

‘It is important to note that this is developmental data which we expect to be revised as the quality of the collection improves. While it’s useful to provide information by DHB, this data should not be used to compare outcomes between DHBs.’

Dr McEwan thanked DHBs for their substantial work with the Ministry around the new collection.

The new NPF data on referrals for FSA shows:

· 87 per cent of the 158,214 referrals in the three months ending September 2015 were accepted by DHBs.

· 5 per cent (7229) of total referrals were declined as they did not meet the local threshold for assessment.

You can see a series of questions and answers around today’s data publication and the National Patient Flow collection at:

http://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/first-data-new-national-collection

You can also access the data on Referrals for First Specialist Assessment along with supporting explanatory information at

http://www.health.govt.nz/national-patient-flow-prioritisation-outcome

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