Hospital Slashes Wait Times

By LAUGESEN RUTH

DHB gives hip ops within month A TOP-PERFORMING health board has cleared waiting lists so successfully that it is able to offer operations that have almost disappeared from public hospitals – including hernias, badly ingrown toenails and varicose veins.

Counties Manukau District Health Board is relaxing treatment thresholds to allow more people with a variety of less serious conditions to get operations.

The waiting time for a hip operation at the DHB is now only about a month, assuming people have no other chronic health problems to be dealt with first.

In 2003, patients in the DHB’s area were waiting up to a year for hip replacements, even those suffering significant pain and disability.

The DHB’s star performance, despite serving one of the poorest communities in the country, is attracting visitors from other DHBs to see what it is doing right.

Chief operating officer Ron Dunham said a heavy emphasis on preventive health measures and careful management was paying off.

“I think we’ve just knuckled down and fine-tuned our systems,” he said.

As well as some cosmetic procedures, the DHB is to make it easier to get operations for many conditions that have been difficult to get at public hospitals, such as hernias, varicose veins, grommets, tonsils and severe ingrown tonenails. It is offering more hip, knee and cataract operations in the next 12 months, and is increasing the number of stomach stapling operations from zero to 100.

However nationwide GPs are reporting continued heavy demand for elective surgery that public hospitals are failing to meet. In Christchurch medics are so concerned about lack of treatment that they are to open a charity hospital next month to offer free day surgery for poor patients.

A struggling public hospital system is also seeing more well- off patients seeking treatment at private hospitals. Between 2002 and 2003, the percentage of breast cancer patients treated at private hospitals rose from 21% to 24%. For prostate cancer patients, the figure rose from 21% to 26% in the same period, according to an Official Information Act release to National MP Jackie Blue.

However, the Ministry of Health says the figures are misleading, and that performance by DHBs on elective surgery is improving sharply. All but one of the 21 DHBs met booking system targets in the latest available figures, for May.

But National health spokesman Tony Ryall says the targets are meaningless, as so many people do not qualify for treatment. He said Counties Manukau’s performance was “exceptional” as it was one of the best- funded DHBs in the country because of its poor population.

However, Counties Manukau’s funding for the financial year just ended is just 10% of the total, although it serves 10.7% of New Zealand’s population.

HEALING THE SYSTEM / Focus, C1

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