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Publication of clinical performance metrics recommenced following review
Publication of clinical performance metrics recommenced following review
Te Whatu Ora has recommenced public reporting of clinical performance metrics on its website, acting chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain announced today.
The resumption of public reporting follows a robust review into publication of performance metrics, which was paused in March after it was found there were errors in some of the data. The report from that review has also been published today.
“As an organisation, we are determined to get this right, as we wholeheartedly believe in the importance of performance reporting as a key means to build public trust and confidence in our work,” Dr Chamberlain says.
“Many of the problems identified in the review are not new, and we now have a plan to fix them. Te Whatu Ora is combining processes and systems from 29 organisations, and the review has been an opportunity to better understand data collection and validation. This will assist our focus on performance of the health system, including steps to further improve public reporting.
“Importantly, while we must address issues to ensure integrity in our reporting, these challenges have not had any impact on the provision of health services or patient care.”
Based on the review’s recommendations, Te Whatu Ora will now report the clinical performance metrics quarterly – not monthly – in addition to our publicly available quarterly reports.
“Following robust evaluation and validation of the data, we are publishing 11 of the 12 metrics today,” Dr Chamberlain says. One measure – Emergency Department Admissions – has been temporarily removed because the definition of a hospital admission from ED has been interpreted inconsistently, meaning this data can’t be accurately reported.
Most of the clinical performance metrics published today have not improved when compared to the relevant previous reporting period, he says.
“We have a strong focus on improving performance of the system, with plans and initiatives in place. With the pressure on our hospitals and primary and community care, together with significant workforce shortages, improving performance will take time and consistent effort from everyone involved.”
The review was conducted by a panel of internal and independent experts that reported to Dr Dale Bramley (Ngā Puhi), the National Director of Service Improvement and Innovation at Te Whatu Ora. It underwent external peer review before being finalised.
The review found that there are multiple issues to address, with processes for collection, aggregation and validation of data having weaknesses. These were exacerbated by the shift from quarterly to monthly reporting, which had not been the previous reporting standard.
“Out of a genuine desire to provide the public with more regular reporting, we underestimated the time required to move from what the system had to what we now need, particularly given the complexity of the data and systems involved,” Dr Chamberlain says.
Te Whatu Ora is now implementing the 28 recommendations of the review to make the required improvements. Key priorities include ensuring consistency and timeliness in reporting across the country; stronger connections between teams to integrate different responsibilities; and implementing use of consistent assurance and sign-off processes using subject matter experts.
“While the inaccurate data we reported was unfortunate, as a new organisation we now have a robust understanding of the issues we need to get on top of to give the public confidence in our future performance reporting.”