The Ministry of Health today released figures on District Health Board performance against the six government health targets.

The West Coast District Health Board is happy to be a part of a process of sharing information on how well we are delivering quality healthcare to the people of the West Coast by comparison with the rest of New Zealand.

The published results highlight the areas we are doing well in and also identifies areas in which performance needs to be raised in order to meet the targets.

Our performance against the targets that focus on hospital performance shows generally pleasing results with excellent results for Shorter stays in Emergency Departments and Shorter waits for Cancer Therapy Radiation.

The result for Improved access to Elective Surgery reflects two key circumstances. Data for this table was uploaded prior to all West Coast District Health Board information being entered. With this data added the final figure shows 96% achievement. This along with the fact that the West Coast already has one of the highest intervention rates for elective surgery means meeting the target of an even higher number of elective surgery discharges will be quite a challenge.

Three targets focus on preventive measures. Increased immunisation for two-year olds is a continuing focus of primary health care. The West Coast District Health Board Outreach Immunisation service has made it easier for children to be immunised when they do not have close or ready access to primary healthcare. This has proved to be valuable, particularly in rural areas, but there are still a significant number of West Coast parents who choose not to have their children immunised.

Better help for Smokers to Quit is a new health target where the data has only been collected for one month. New processes and procedures are in place and we expect to see a significant improvement in figures next quarter as staff incorporate cessation advice in their treatment of smokers.

The result in the Better Diabetes and Cardiovascular Services target reflects the ongoing good work being carried out on the West Coast by General Practitioners and nurses at primary healthcare practices, along with the local cancer team, the West Coast Primary Health Organisation and the District Health Board.

The West Coast District Health Board results will be published in this week's community newspaper, the Messenger.