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Pleasing Improvement for Waikato DHB
Pleasing Improvement for Waikato
Waikato District Health Board continues to make steady progress towards meeting the government’s target for shorter waits in emergency departments.
The third quarter (January, February, March) results released by the Ministry of Health today showed in Waikato the number of patients waiting for the target six hours or less has improved to 92 per cent percent from 89 percent for the second quarter. www.waikatodhb.health.nz/healthtargets
The Ministry of Health target is 95 percent.
Chief operating officer Jan Adams said the DHB was getting “consistent, steady progress based on a solid programme of changes.”
“We want the improvements to be real and continuing, not just a ‘quick fix’ to meet the targets and then lose momentum later.”
She said the programme involved a mix of awareness campaigns and changes to the way teams and staff manage the flow of patients from Emergency Department to treatment and discharge or admittance to a ward.
“We are getting smarter about how we do things, and there is now better communication across the hospital. Staff are seeing patient flow as part of everyone’s responsibility, rather than viewing their role or unit in isolation.
“This will have positive impacts on patient treatment overall, not just for the Emergency Department target,” she said.
“We want to meet the 95 percent target consistently by the end of the 2011/2012 year, but because the quarter results are based on average over three months, the official statistics may still be a little short of that until we get into the 2012/2013 year’s results.”
Several activities will help bring the target closer over the coming months including:
• a new role of
patient flow nurse in Waikato Hospital ED
• change in
processes to deal with acute medical
patients
• additional emergency physicians who will
enable a more consistent weekday and weekend staffing level
than is currently the case.
However Mrs Adams warns that the target will remain challenging as the hospitals enter the difficult winter months.
The target figures for this year include both Waikato and Thames hospitals’ emergency departments From the beginning of next financial year (1 July 2012) the Waikato DHB results will include all the DHB’s emergency departments – at Tokoroa, Te Kuiti and Taumarunui hospitals as well.
“Currently we are being compared to other DHBs who have some smaller emergency departments with less pressure and better target rates, so the inclusion of all our EDs will provide a fairer comparison in future,” Mrs Adams said.
About Waikato District Health Board and Health Waikato:
Waikato DHB is responsible for planning, funding and providing quality health and disability support services for the 372,865 people living in the Waikato DHB region. It has an annual turnover of $1.2 billion and employs more than 6000 people.
Health Waikato is the DHB’s main provider of hospital and health services with an annual budget of more than $701 million and 5238 staff. It has six groups across five hospital sites, three primary birthing units, two continuing care facilities and 20 community bases offering a comprehensive range of primary, secondary and tertiary health services.
A wide range of independent providers deliver other Waikato DHB-funded health services - including primary health, pharmacies and community laboratories.
ENDS
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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