Health leaders praise hardworking staff as five
out of six national performance measures met
Five out of six health targets have been met
by the BOPDHB in the latest fi gures revealed
by the Ministry of Health.
The Health Targets achieved are: Shorter Stays in
Emergency Departments, Improved Access to Elective
Surgery, Faster Cancer Treatment, Better Help for Smokers
to Quit, and Raising Healthy Kids; with just Increased
Immunisation not achieved.
"It's a signifi cant result," says BOPDHB Chief Executive
Helen Mason. "And I want to thank everyone for all their
hard work in making this possible. It shows that as an
organisation we're moving in the right direction and the
health impact for our population is signifi cant."
Health Targets are a set of national performance
measures set by the Ministry of Health. They are due to
be replaced in early 2019 as the Ministry develops a new
set of performance measures focussed more broadly on
population health outcomes. Once these new measures are
announced and fi nalised, they will also be regularly reported
on to the public. In the meantime, reporting on the present
Health Targets continues on a quarterly basis. In Q1, Q2
and Q3 of 2017/18 the BOPDHB achieved four out of the
six health targets in each quarter. In Q4 reporting, which
covers the three months to the end of July, it achieved fi ve
out of six targets.
Raising Healthy Kids
Raising Healthy Kids (RHK), was rated 'outstanding' by
the Ministry of Health. A result is deemed outstanding if it
is "considerably better than the agreed DHB and/or sector
expectations".
The RHK target is that 95% of obese children identifi ed in
the B4 School Check programme will be offered a referral
to a health professional for clinical assessment and family-
based nutrition, activity and lifestyle interventions. The
BOPDHB result for Q4 was 100%.
BOPDHB Child and Youth Portfolio Manager Tim Slow
says the steady reduction in the numbers of parents
declining to have their children referred onwards for a
clinical assessment when identifi ed as obese was due to
good engagement by nurses who have used motivational
interviewing techniques and 5-2-1-0 messaging.
Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments
BOPDHB ED Business Leader Neil McKelvie says the fact
that the BOPDHB had been able to meet the Shorter Stays
in Emergency Departments target, despite rising numbers
of patients being seen, was testament to a lot of hard work
both behind the scenes and by his front-of-house staff on a
daily basis.
"We did a lot of work last year on streamlining the patient
journey through ED and into the hospital, making that as
effi cient as possible wherever we could," he says. "We've
built on those initiatives throughout the year and have seen
the results of that."
Better Help for Smokers to Quit
Commenting on the achievement of the Better Help
for Smokers to Quit target, Population Health Portfolio
Manager Roimata Timutimu noted the work of both the
BOPDHB smokefree coordinator and the maternity smoking
cessation and safe-sleeping midwife.
"The smokefree coordinator has been integral in
developing hospital processes and systems
to support staff and their delivery of advice
to smokers," she says.
5210 – the healthy way to go
Tamariki across the Bay of Plenty are
being given a head start on healthy
habits thanks to a brand new range of
health resources given at their routine
B4 School Check.
The BOPDHB and Toi Te Ora Public Health have
developed a range of resources called “5210”,
which feature lo