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Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has revealed details of how the��“ambitious health targets”��the Government has set will be achieved, as the country’s health system continues to buckle under pressure.��

“Earlier this year, I announced an ambitious new direction for health, reinvigorating five targets badly neglected by the previous government,” Reti said on a visit to Hutt Valley Hospital today.��

“Our targets are now tightly focused on five things that really matter: faster cancer treatment, increasing childhood immunisation, shorter stays in emergency departments and shorter wait times for assessments and treatment.��

“Without clear targets, performance slips. We need to focus resources, attention and accountability to improve performance.”��

In March, Reti set out five targets he hoped to achieve within six years:��

- 90% of patients to receive cancer management within 31 days of the decision to treat.��

- 95% of children to be fully immunised at 24 months of age.��

- 95% of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours.��

- 95% of patients to wait less than four months for a first specialist appointment.��

- 95% of patients to wait less than four months for elective treatment.��

The plan to speed up cancer treatment includes addressing “unwarranted variation in access to care”, improving infrastructure, improving data collection and strengthening the cancer workforce.��

“We are planning to establish more community infusion centres so patients can access their chemotherapy closer to home,” he said.��

“There will also be new radiography machines for cancer treatment, expanded access to stem cell transplantation in main centres and more focus on patients who have waited more than a year to get them assessed or treated.”��

To improve immunisation numbers for children, Reti plans to expand and increase the vaccination workforce, improve re-call activity, and increase community engagement amongst other initiatives.��

“Without clear targets, performance slips. We need to focus resources, attention and accountability to improve performance.”��

Reti wants to improve patient flow through hospitals to reduce wait times and enable primary care to treat more patients.��

“We will expand the number of beds and operating theatres in public hospitals and make greater use of capacity in private hospitals,” he said.��

“We will make sure that there is a separation between acute care, which people need in a hurry, and planned care, such as a scheduled hip operation, so operating theatres are operating more efficiently and there will be fewer cancellations.”��

The plan talks about eliminating ”unnecessary follow-ups through developing alternative outpatient models of care.”��

“The Commissioner of Health New Zealand has assured me these targets can and will be achieved within current resources and will come with regular and transparent reporting.”��

Reti targeted “wasteful spending” and said the coalition Government was “investing more in health than any Government in New Zealand’s history – around $30 billion a year”.��

“With that investment, we are also turning our backs on wasteful spending which doesn’t demonstrate better outcomes.��

“Every dollar spent on health is precious, however dollar signs and numbers on a page won’t be the only way New Zealanders will see change in the health system.��

“Targets save lives.”��

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the��New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the��NZ Herald��masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the��Northern Advocate��in Whangārei.��