MEDIA RELEASE, Friday, 29 April 2011

PHA calls for reinstatement of reducing avoidable hospital admissions health target

The Public Health Association (PHA) is calling on Minister of Health Tony Ryall to reinstate the reduction of avoidable hospital admissions as a health target, particularly for children.

The PHA’s call comes after the release of findings from an Otago University study showing the rate of children admitted to hospital with serious skin infections has doubled since 1990.

“These findings are an indictment of a supposedly first world nation,” says the PHA’s National Executive Officer, Dr Gay Keating.

“The hospital admission rates revealed by the study are the direct product of a failure of successive governments to make children a priority, of the absolute shortage of houses, of family poverty and the health services not getting in early enough”.

Dr Keating says New Zealand’s rate of child immunisation has improved greatly since it was made a health target. She says reinstating the reduction of avoidable hospital admissions, especially for children, would be a great first step toward improving New Zealand’s shameful record on childhood infectious diseases.

“It’s not only responsible and wise to focus on the country’s youngest and most vulnerable, but it is also helpful in easing the pressure on front line staff and reducing hospital waiting times for other New Zealanders needing hospital beds.”

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