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Minister Praises Canterbury DHB For Improvements For Patients

The Minister of Health Pete Hodgson has praised Canterbury DHB for leading the way in New Zealand in improving patient flow through hospitals.

Mr Hodgson made the comments at the Optimising Patient Flow and Safety Conference in Wellington yesterday.

“Of all the DHBs that are now engaged in one or more aspects of patient flow, and most are, Canterbury is for my money leading the way. It is not always smart for a Minister of Health to nominate a DHB as being best at something but in this case I am in no doubt,” Mr Hodgson said.

Good patient flow is important in avoiding unnecessary delays for patients, increasing the numbers of patients that can be seen and treated and making the most of funding and staff time.

“They (CDHB) are far enough through their “Improving the Patient Flow Journey” initiative that they can lay claim to eye-watering outcomes,” Mr Hodgson said “The Canterbury DHB has a conference in May on this stuff. They have a story to tell and I assert it is a story of consequence.”

Mary Gordon, leader of the CDHB’s Improving the Patient Journey project, said its success had been very impressive.

“It has included significant reduction in the time that patients wait in the Emergency Department. The majority of patients are now seen, treated and leave the department in under 4 hours,” she said.

She said the establishment of the Acute Medical Assessment Unit (AMAU) which opened last June, had also reduced the time people stayed in hospital. This is because the AMAU ensures acutely unwell general medical patients, who were previously managed in Christchurch Hospital’s Emergency Department, are assessed and treated more quickly by the specialist general medicine team.

Mary Gordon said the orthopaedic initiative implemented at Burwood Hospital as part of the Improving the Patient Journey initiative had also led to significant changes in the way elective patients were managed there.

These included a 40% increase in the use of elective operating theatres, which had been achieved by using every one of the schedule operating lists.

Other changes included getting physiotherapists and nurses to assess and screen patients before surgery and increasing the number of patients who come into hospital the day of their operation, rather than at least a day beforehand.

The CDHB will hold a conference entitled “Improving the Patient Journey: A How-To Guide” at the Christchurch Convention Centre from 14 -15 May.

ENDS