Apr 03 2025 3 mins
A health group says the Government's health targets don't tell the full story of the system.
Three of the five Government's targets are on track, but two are worse than the previous quarter.
Wait lists for elective treatments and a first specialist assessment have worsened, but child vaccination rates have improved, alongside cancer treatment times and ED stay lengths.
Patient Voice Aotearoa Chair Malcolm Mulholland told Andrew Dickens the ED wait time metric doesn't include walkouts.
He's aware of a case in Palmerston North where a patient walked out of its ED because it was overwhelmed, and died the following day.
He’s also doubting how cancer treatments are measured.
Mulholland told Andrew Dickens it looks at the time from the first appointment to first treatment, instead of diagnosis.
He says patients are waiting eight weeks or longer at Waikato, Christchurch, Wellington and Southland hospitals, and some outcomes have been lethal.
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