League tables don’t tell the full story

Frontline health professionals are being given extra paperwork to help DHBs look better in the Government's health league tables, Labour Associate Health spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway said.

“In response to questions Lakes DHB informed the Health Committee that the reason their health board appeared to be under-performing on smoking cessation targets is that work currently being done was not being recorded,” Iain Lees-Galloway said.

“The DHB told the select committee that a new form had been created for staff to fill out and that they now had to encourage health workers to fill out the extra paperwork so that their efforts would show up on the league tables.

Iain Lees-Galloway said this information highlights what a complete waste of time and resources Tony Ryall's league tables are for the health sector.

"On the face of it Lakes DHB appears to be doing very little in smoking cessation. In fact, given that cessation is the only measure of the battle to reduce tobacco related harm used in the league tables, anyone reading these tables would be lead to believe Lakes DHB pays little attention to tobacco related harm at all.

"The truth is that reducing tobacco related harm is the number one strategic priority for Lakes DHB.

"Tony Ryall and the National Party campaigned on reducing bureaucracy in health.

“The truth is he has loaded more useless bureaucracy onto frontline health workers so he can give the public meaningless and misleading information about the standard of health care in New Zealand,” Iain Lees-Galloway said.

ENDS

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