Criticism of health indicators resulting from confusion of targets

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Health Minister Andrew Little said criticism of the new health indicators stems from the confusion between indicators and targets.

The framework announced this month as part of health reform included 12 indicators based on the government’s six priorities for health; improve the well-being of children, improve mental well-being, improve well-being through preventive measures, create a strong and equitable public health system, better primary health care and a financially sustainable health system.

Progress in achieving these goals would be reported on every three months so that issues could be resolved.

Criticism has been leveled by cancer care advocates, including Southlands Melissa Vining, that the disease was not included. The Cancer Society was among them and wrote an open letter to the minister last week.

We were troubled by your comment that the Cancer Society is off the planet for suggesting that the newly announced health system indicators should include a strong metric for cancer patients … we hope everyone hurts understood what the other is communicating.

In a statement to the Otago Daily Times, Mr. Little said the government takes cancer very seriously and to say otherwise is false.

His comment on the Cancer Society concerned his claim that the government was not monitoring cancer treatments, which was simply not true, he said.

It was not a reflection on the great work that the company does and that the government appreciates.

In the press release in which the indicators were announced, he said the indicators replaced the outdated and ineffective regimen of national health goals.

Goals are always reported in annual district health board plans.

Mr Little explained in his statement to the ODT: I want to be very clear on this, we always measure the performance of DHB against the targets. They have not disappeared.

These goals had been in place since 2007, and he said there was plenty of evidence that they hadn’t worked. This included the existing target that 90% of patients with a high suspicion of cancer receive their first cancer treatment within 62 days of referral. The national average for the most recent quarters was 85%.

It was disappointing to see some media reporting comments that appeared to confuse the role of indicators with targets, he said.

There were many conditions affecting the health of New Zealanders, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, and the healthcare system is monitoring them all.

Health indicators do a different job. They tell us if the health system as a whole is working to improve the health of all New Zealanders and what we need to do to improve it. “

He explained that the indicators were not set in stone; the system was flexible and other indicators could and would be developed.

The Department of Health is currently working with clinicians on this, and the most productive thing people and organizations can do is talk to them.

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