National has announced it will bring back National Health Targets for wait times and cancer treatment if elected.
The party's health spokesperson Shane Reti said bringing back the targets would focus the health system on achieving better results and incentivise GP clinics to lift immunisation rates.
The health targets were created in 2007 by the Labour government, with then-health minister Pete Hodgson saying the 10 targets he introduced were aimed at "achieving the best possible health outcomes for all New Zealanders".
When National entered government in 2008, it cut the targets from 10 to six - dropping goals for mental health, oral health and nutrition and physical exercise.
It kept five of Labour's targets - elective surgery, cancer treatment, immunisation, smoking, and heart and diabetes checks. It also added a new target of cutting emergency department waiting times.
In 2018, then-Health Minister David Clark removed National Health Targets because they created “perverse incentives”, but the Opposition said there was no evidence to suggest that's true.
“The Labour Government’s approach to health has taken New Zealand backwards. Wait lists and emergency department wait times have soared, childhood immunisation rates have plunged, and New Zealanders are facing longer delays to access urgent cancer treatment or surgery," Reti said today.
“That’s unacceptable to National. Put simply, health targets save lives so we will restore them to focus the system on doing better for New Zealanders. We will hold ourselves publicly accountable for progress by publishing the results every quarter, for each region.
“Having transparent targets with regular, robust reporting helps identify where the system is falling short and focuses effort on improving outcomes.”
Health targets
National’s five major targets for health will be:
1. Shorter stays in emergency department – 95% of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours.
2. Faster cancer treatment – 85% of patients to receive cancer management within 31 days of the decision to treat.
3. Improved immunisation – 95% of two-year-olds receiving their full age-appropriate immunisations.
4. Shorter wait times for first specialist assessment – a meaningful reduction in the number of people waiting more than four months to see a specialist (target to be set in government).
5. Shorter wait times for surgery – a meaningful reduction in the number of people waiting more than four months for surgery (target to be set in government).
Immunisations
National would also aim to lift childhood immunisation for two-year-olds, measles and mumps immunisations for under-18s, and improve the flu vaccination rate for those aged 65 and over.
The party would do so through a one-off immunisation incentive payments programme for GP clinics.
“Under the Immunisation Incentive Payments plan, GP clinics will be eligible for a one-off payment of $10 per enrolled patient on their books, provided they lift childhood immunisations, MMR vaccinations and flu jabs by five percentage points among eligible patients before June 30, 2024," Reti said.
“That means, for example, a clinic with several GPs and 4,500 enrolled patients would receive a payment of $45,000 if it meets the three improvement measures.
“If every GP clinic in New Zealand meets the target, the cost of the Immunisation Incentive Payment would be $52 million and will be funded from National’s commitment to increasing health funding every year we are in office.
“National is serious about supporting the health system, and getting better results from it for New Zealanders.
“We’ve already announced that a National Government will increase health funding every year, will fund 13 new cancer treatments, extend the breast cancer screening age to 74 and address the health workforce crisis by training 220 more doctors each year, and repaying up to $22,500 off nurses and midwives’ student loans in exchange for being bonded to work in New Zealand for five years after graduating.”
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