Health Matters WBOP September 2018 | Page 3

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