17 JUNE

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

1603

Government’s Medium-Term Goals

The following goals are set out in the Government’s Medium Term Strategy. Under each goal, this Crown’s Statement of Objectives sets out the specific outcomes Government wishes the Health Funding Authority to focus on during 1999/00.

1. Public certainty about access, quality and security of services
2. Timely, equitable and nationally consistent access to elective services
3. Acknowledging the special relationship between Māori and the Crown
4. Decreased long-standing disparities in health status
5. Improved mental health
6. Improved child health
7. Improved disability support services
8. Greater emphasis on population health approaches
9. Well co-ordinated, integrated services that contribute to better health and disability outcomes
10. Intersectoral collaboration between agencies and providers to achieve social policy objectives
11. Improved capability and adaptability of the health and disability sector
12. Sustainability of the publicly funded health system

Goal 1: Public certainty about access, quality and security of services

The Crown’s objectives for 1999/00 are to:

a) retain current levels and configurations of services in Hospital and Health Services

In order to give people throughout New Zealand confidence in the continuing provision of their hospital and health services, the Minister of Health, in September 1998, announced the Hospital Services Plan. The Hospital Services Plan commits all Crown agencies, including the Health Funding Authority, to retain the current configurations of services in Hospital and Health Services throughout New Zealand for a period of 3 years. It protects communities from arbitrary and unilateral changes (specifically reductions) in services. Any changes proposed to prices, volumes or other aspects of configurations of health services must be consistent with the Hospital Services Plan.

b) give consumers greater certainty and transparency

The HFA should develop processes, including public information campaigns, designed to give the public and consumers of health services (patients) a clear statement of the publicly-funded services available to them and the terms under which those services can be accessed by:

• publishing service coverage information in plain language
• making sure the public, especially relevant subsets of the population, is aware of policies that will benefit them so that they are fully utilised (e.g., the free doctors visits for under 6-year-olds)
• working with the Ministry of Health and other agencies as relevant to further develop the framework for a national emergency collaborative network of hospitals as set out in ‘Roadside to Bedside’
• continuing work to progressively develop a fair, effective and nationally consistent travel policy designed to make reasonable access fair to all people in New Zealand no matter where they are located.

c) provide clarity about funding and service intentions

The Health Funding Authority must:

• share information with providers on the analysis of current and future health needs, prioritisation and pricing methodologies when facilitating service agreements, thus allowing providers to assess medium-term funding intentions and service delivery expectations
• continue work on developing longer-term funding arrangements designed to enable providing organisations to better plan their service delivery.

Goal 2: Timely, equitable and nationally consistent access to elective services

The Crown’s objectives for 1999/00 are to improve access to elective services by:

• ensuring that people referred for elective services are prioritised through a clinical assessment process based on their need and ability to benefit from the proposed procedure
• actively continuing the implementation of nationally consistent booking systems in respect of all publicly-funded elective services
• actively fostering the development, acceptance and use of clinical priority assessment criteria among health professionals
• giving emphasis to ensuring that people referred for initial assessment have timely access to that assessment
• working towards nationally consistent access to elective services so that people in like circumstances anywhere in New Zealand are treated in a like manner.

Goal 3: Acknowledging the special relationship between Māori and the Crown

The Crown recognises the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of New Zealand and acknowledges Māori aspirations to increasingly provide their own health services.

The Crown’s objectives for 1999/00 are to:

• ensure services are responsive to the cultural values of Māori
• continue efforts, where appropriate and after consulting Māori, to encourage greater participation by Māori at all levels of the health sector, including in health service delivery for Māori
• strengthen links between Māori health and other aspects of Māori development.

Goal 4: Decreased long-standing disparities in health status

The Crown’s objectives for 1999/00 are to:

Improve Māori and Pacific health status so that these groups have the opportunity to enjoy the same levels of health status as other New Zealanders by:

• implementing programmes and services that offer the most potential for health gain for Māori and Pacific peoples
• ensuring that services are responsive to the cultural values of these communities.

Goal 5: Improved mental health

The Crown’s objective for 1999/00 is to fund and deliver services that will better address the mental health needs of the community, including to: