The Ministry of Health has released its second quarterly 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 the delivery of quality healthcare to the people of the West Coast.

The results generally show improvement from those of last quarter however there is still room for improvement.

Our performance for Shorter stays in Emergency Departments continues to have the West Coast District Health Board leading the country and Better help for Smokers to Quit has a real upturn as the new processes and procedures now see staff incorporating cessation advice in their treatment of smokers.

Better performance in Improved access to elective surgery now sees the District Health Board hitting its volume target of an increased number of patients. The fact that the West Coast already has one of the highest intervention rates for elective surgery means that this result indicates that West Coasters are well served in this field.

A decrease in the performance against the Shorter waits for Cancer Therapy Radiotherapy target reflects just one patient who was unable to have their treatment within the desired time.

Increased immunisation for two-year olds is a continuing focus of primary health care providers. The West Coast continues to have a shortage of primary care providers, creating waiting lists for routine appointments. This is a major contributing factor in lower immunisation coverage than national targets. The quarter's reduction in coverage was due to five children not receiving their scheduled immunisations prior to reaching the age of two years because of a shortage in administration staff at a practice. Overdue children from this practice have been referred to the Outreach Immunisation service.

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.