The end of year results of the 2009/10 Health Targets have been published within national and local newspapers and our results show a solid end of year achievement with an overall increase of performance in all areas.

Published to encourage public scrutiny of the health sector, the six health targets cover shorter stays in the emergency department, smoking, immunisation, diabetes and cardiovascular services as well as reduced waiting times for critical cancer treatment and elective surgery.

Dr Nick Chamberlain, Northland DHB's spokesperson and clinical services general manager says Northland DHB topped two of six health targets, with distinction awarded for elective surgery delivery this year."

6,518 Northlanders underwent elective surgery this year, an increase of more than 519 patients on the previous year.

"Staff from our theatres and hospital wards did an amazing job juggling elective surgery against an unpredictable acute surgical workload. Our general surgery, eye service and ear nose and throat teams did particularly well and many other services contributed to the success of this target."

Northland DHB continues to overcome challenges within its emergency department with 86% of patients treated within six hours of their presenting to an emergency department, still short of the 95% target.

"A whole of hospital and primary care approach is required to resolve emergency department 'bed block' and patient flow. A range of initiatives were introduced this year and we should expect to see productivity gains early next year," said Dr Chamberlain.

Immunisation is a preventative measure, and parents face the decision of vaccinating their child against diseases parents have heard little about or seen such as polio and rubella.

"By the time a child reaches the age of five, they and a guardian or parent would have engaged with a number of well child or health care providers such as a lead maternity carer (LMC), plunket nurse, general practitioner or dental therapist."

"We are therefore looking at ways to better connect with all child care providers who work with children and their families in Northland."

The implementation of new data collections methods for staff, to help hospitalised smokers quit, saw the health target for smoking prevention leap from 12% in the first quarter to 55% in quarter four.

"Our smokefree team have worked hard this year and nearly 500 district health board staff have been trained in the ABC approach for smoking cessation," said Dr Chamberlain

The ABC approach is setup to ask every patient if they are Smokefree. Staff are able to give advice on the benefits of quitting and support the patient to quit by offering nicotine replacement therapy and/or referring them to a cessation support service.

Better treatment for diabetes and heart disease continues to improve with the primary sector's performance against cardiovascular disease risk assessment progressing at a solid rate.

Radiotherapy is back on track, despite falling short earlier in the year following the decommissioning of a linear accelerator at Auckland DHB. Oncology staff at Whangarei Hospital, continue to work closely with Auckland DHB, monitoring waiting times for radiation oncology services to ensure Northlanders receive their treatment within 6 weeks.

Each target is one of a number of methods we use to measure our performance and while these new targets have been challenging to implement, they will produce measurable gains in patient care through steady improvement.

Health targets do not replace other health priorities but are essential performance indicators, providing district health boards a focus for action and can be measured as to the impact they are making in improving health for all New Zealanders.

To obtain a copy of the Health Target results or for more information visit the Ministry of Health's health target website http://www.moh.govt.nz/healthtargets.