Health Targets

Why Health Targets?

Health is one of the largest areas (21%) of Government spending - $10.64 billion in 2006/07. The Minister of Health has nominated priority areas where he wants to go harder and faster. Adopting targets will help the health sector to focus resources on these areas, lift performance, contribute to overall health improvement and reduce inequalities. Setting and measuring performance against targets will also help ensure we are getting value for money in the health sector.

It is now generally accepted that carefully chosen targets are associated with improvements in performance*. A range of targets, aligned with strategic priorities, have been introduced to form part of District Health Boards’ (DHB) District Annual Plans, and to bind the Ministry of Health, who is charged with assisting in their achievement.

What are Health Targets?

Health Targets are a set of measures to focus resources on specific areas and improve performance. They provide a focus for action. The impact they are making can be measured to see how they are improving health for all New Zealanders.

Health Targets do not replace other health priorities; however they do challenge the health sector to continue improving the delivery of health services.

There are currently 10 Health Targets that were introduced in August 2007.
Seven Health Targets are directly influenced by the DHBs, while three targets (improving nutrition and exercise, lowering tobacco use and reducing Ministry of Health expenditure) are only measured at a national level.

How do they fit with other health priorities?

The Health Targets are essentially the performance indicators for key health strategies and priority policies.

The strategies include the Primary Health Care Strategy, the Oral Health Action Plan, the Cancer Control Plan, Healthy Eating and Health Action, Elective Services and several others.

That’s why these targets are so important – when we make progress in these areas, we make a direct and measurable improvement in people’s health.

How will the targets contribute to reducing inequalities?

Health targets are an exciting opportunity for the health and disability sector to focus both on overall health improvement and reduced health inequalities. The Ministry of Health will be working with DHBs to ensure that the targets agreed to address equity - in particular how DHBs will work to not only improve the health of the Māori and Pacific populations of their districts but ensure that there is equity in health outcomes for these populations.

The Ministry of Health and DHBs will be working over the coming years to identify successful approaches to reducing health inequalities and to support the adaptation and implementation of these approaches throughout the country as appropriate. While the focus of these activities will be on the health target areas and their indicators, it is important to recognise that health inequalities are complex and require system wide approaches.

Fundamental to reducing inequalities is having a solid evidence base. For this reason, there will also be activity around improving ethnicity data quality and collection and work to understand more around the nature and extent of inequalities within the target areas.

More information on reducing inequalities.

Do other countries use health targets?

Several countries have some form of health targets including Australia, the UK and Norway.

*Mays, Nick. 2006. Use of Health Targets to Improve Health System Performance: English NHS Experience and Implications for New Zealand. New Zealand Treasury Working Paper 06/06 Working Paper. Wellington: The Treasury

Page last updated: 12 October 2008