Emergency departments' health care improvements
News article
More community care, a new Medical Assessment and Planning Unit, faster care for very unwell children and better hospital data collection are just some of the healthcare improvements District Health Boards have achieved in striving to meet the Shorter Stays in Emergency Department Health Target.
The successes were shared at a two-day forum in Wellington this week, designed to help DHB clinicians and managers who are working on the target learn more about strategies to reach or maintain the Target.
The target is that 95 per cent of patients will be admitted, discharged or transferred from an Emergency Department within six hours.
Ministry of Health Emergency Department Target Champion Mike Ardagh, chaired the forum, which on the first day was devoted to presenters from six District Health Boards talking about work that had been done in their regions to improve and reduce the flow of patients through their Emergency Departments. On the second day a panel discussion was held with Dr Tim Parke from Auckland DHB, Paul Watson from the Ministry of Health; Mike Hunter from Southern DHB and Dr Vanessa Thornton from Counties Manukau DHB.
Professor Mike Ardagh
Ministry of Health Emergency Department Target Champion
Minister of Health Tony Ryall also listened in on the panel discussion and acknowledged a significant improvement in Emergency Department management in the last nine months. He said he was kept very well informed about DHB performance against the health target and took a keen interest in it.
Workshop sessions were also held during the forum. These were facilitated by Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and included the topics ‘The Science of Improvement’, ‘The Quality Measurement Journey’ and ‘Building Capacity and Capability’.
Page last updated: 18 April 2012
Twitter
Facebook