Survey looks at travel patterns around hospitals
Students up close with rural health
Current students on the RHIP programme were exposed to the realities of working in a remote rural setting when they spent the night in Te Kaha earlier this month .
Twelve students from the joint student placement initiative between the BOPDHB Clinical School , the University of Auckland and Health Workforce New Zealand met with students on a similar programme from neighbouring Tairawhiti DHB for a noho marae at Pāhāōa Marae at Te Kaha .
Guided by BOPDHB ’ s Regional Māori Health staff , the experience enabled students to be immersed in Māoritanga .
Home to Te Whānau-ā-Apanui , they learned about the history of the remote East Coast area from kaumatua Moetatua Turoa and how this relates to health .
The students also spoke to local GP Rachel Thomson about the health needs of people living in the remote east coast settlement .
They then experienced this up close as the Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter was called to airlift a patient who ’ d arrived by ambulance further along the coast .
Paramedic Bruce Weston talks to students while Intensive Care Paramedic Kurt Golding tends to the patient who has since been discharged from Whakatāne Hospital .
Once the patient had been stabilised and shortly before take-off , the students spoke to the crew about what it ’ s like flying in remote areas .
Former summer student at the forefront of Breast Cancer research
Former BOPDHB Clinical School Summer student Olivia Burn is now completing her PhD , looking at the potential for vaccines to stop cancer spreading . Photo supplied by the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research .
Four years ago Tauranga raised Olivia Burn was one of the first science students selected for the Clinical school ’ s Summer Studentship programme , today she ’ s part of a Malaghan Institute of Medical Research team , that ultimately could make a huge impact on New Zealand ’ s breast cancer survival rates .
Breast cancer is New Zealand ’ s third most common cancer and accounts for more than 600 deaths every year . Most of these deaths are due to breast cancer cells metastasising ( spreading ) to other parts of the body , most commonly bones and quite often this ‘ relapse ’ can occur years after the initial cancer treatment .
Olivia ’ s completing her PhD as part of Malaghan ’ s Cancer Immunotherapy team , looking at the potential for vaccines to stop the cancer spreading .
The Wellington based team is researching breast cancer vaccines in different combinations and conditions to try and create stronger protection across various organs . One of these vaccines seems to be quite effective at targeting the bone .
“ We want to know if these different vaccines protect different organs against breast cancer metastases that have HER2 – the target of the antibreast cancer drug Herceptin ,” says Olivia .
Olivia ’ s first taste of health research was in the summer of 2013-2014 when she was selected for the BOPDHB ’ s Clinical School Summer Studentship programme .
A science student amongst a group of medical students , Olivia spent the summer talking to multiple sclerosis ( MS ) patients across the Bay . Working with Tauranga Hospital Neurologist Dr Andrew Chancellor , the research looked at the impact of the disease on the individual ’ s quality of life as it progressed .
Olivia says she has gone down the medical research pathway because she wants to be at the forefront of deepening our understanding of certain diseases and be involved in developing new drugs to address these .
“ Unfortunately , in the setting of breast cancer , our current clinical options are not effectively preventing cancer relapse . With my research I want to determine how we can harness the power of the immune system to combat these residual cancer cells and keep patients in remission .”
Health leaders praise hardworking staff ...
as five out of six national performance measures met
Five out of six health targets have been met by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board ( BOPDHB ) in the latest figures revealed by the Ministry of Health .
The Health Targets achieved are : Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments , Improved Access to Elective Surgery , Faster Cancer Treatment , Better Help for Smokers to Quit , and Raising Healthy Kids ; with just Increased Immunisation not achieved .
“ It ’ s a significant result ,” says BOPDHB Chief Executive Helen Mason . “ And I want to thank everyone for all their hard work in making this possible . It shows that as an organisation we ’ re moving in the right direction and the health impact for our population is significant .”
Health Targets are a set of national performance measures set by the Ministry of Health . They are due to be replaced in early 2019 as the Ministry develops a new set of performance measures focussed more broadly on population health outcomes . Once these new measures are announced and finalised , they will also be regularly reported on to the public .
In the meantime , reporting on the present Health Targets continues on a quarterly basis . In Q1 , Q2 and Q3 of 2017 / 18 the BOPDHB achieved four out of the six health targets in each quarter . In Q4 reporting , which covers the three months to the end of July , it achieved five out of six targets .
Raising Healthy Kids
Raising Healthy Kids ( RHK ), was rated ‘ outstanding ’ by the Ministry of Health . A result is deemed outstanding if it is “ considerably better than the agreed DHB and / or sector expectations ”.
The RHK target is that 95 % of obese children identified in the B4 School Check programme will be offered a referral to a health professional for clinical assessment and family-based nutrition , activity and lifestyle interventions . The BOPDHB result for Q4 was 100 %.
BOPDHB Child and Youth Portfolio Manager Tim Slow says the steady reduction in the numbers of parents declining to have their children referred onwards for a clinical assessment when identified as obese was due to good engagement by nurses who have used motivational interviewing techniques and 5-2-1-0 messaging .
Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments ( ED )
BOPDHB ED Business Leader Neil McKelvie says the fact that the BOPDHB had been able to meet the Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments target , despite rising numbers of patients being seen , was testament to a lot of hard work both behind the scenes and by his front-of-house staff on a daily basis .
“ We did a lot of work last year on streamlining the patient journey through ED and into the hospital , making that as efficient as possible wherever we could ,” he says . “ We ’ ve built on those initiatives throughout the year and have seen the results of that .”
Better Help for Smokers to Quit
Commenting on the achievement of the Better Help for Smokers to Quit target , Population Health Portfolio Manager Roimata Timutimu noted the work of both the BOPDHB smokefree coordinator and the maternity smoking cessation and safe-sleeping midwife .
“ The smokefree coordinator has been integral in developing hospital processes and systems to support staff and their delivery of advice to smokers ,” she says .
“ The continued support of our maternity smoking cessation and safe-sleeping midwife is also highly valued . This midwife offers advice to pregnant māmā admitted to the maternity ward , refers māmā to our regional Stop Smoking Service , and provides safe sleeping advice and support - including linking māmā to the pēpi-pod programme ; as well as offering support in the community via the Ūkaipō incentivised smoking cessation programme .”
Improved Access to Elective Surgery and Faster Cancer Treatment
BOPDHB Surgery , Anaesthesia and Radiology Business Leader Bronwyn Anstis says the achievement of these targets represented more good news for Bay of Plenty residents .
“ Increasing access to elective surgery treatment continues to be a high priority for the BOPDHB ,” she says . “ These results show that more elective and arranged ( including non-surgical ) procedures have been undertaken for our Bay of Plenty residents in 2017 / 18 than were planned . A total of 12,112 patients underwent procedures in the last 12 months , which is 1,175 more than the expected number for the year .”
Bronwyn Anstis says she was pleased with the improvements made for patients accessing cancer treatment that resulted in the Faster Cancer Treatment target being met for quarter 4 .
“ This means that 96.3 % of our patients receive their first cancer treatment ( or other management ) within 62 days of being referred with a high suspicion of cancer and a need to be seen within two weeks ,” she says .
Survey looks at travel patterns around hospitals
Nearly 1600 people have completed a survey looking at travel solutions around the Bay ’ s two hospital sites .
The BOPDHB Travel Plan Survey ran for three weeks and a total of 1581 people completed it . Of these , 1180 were BOPDHB employees ( representing 34 % of staff ) and 401 were patients and visitors . The survey gathered base data for travel in and around the BOPDHB ’ s two hospital sites in Tauranga and Whakatāne .
“ It was a fantastic response and we ’ d like to thank everyone for really getting on board with it ,” says Medical Officer of Health Dr Phil Shoemack , who is a member of the BOPDHB Travel Plan Group . “ We ’ ve got a lot of great data now from what is a large sample size which is terrific . The comments sections have been revealing as well with some themes coming through and some great suggestions being made .”
Every survey respondent was in to win weekly prizes of bike vouchers ( up to a $ 60 value ), pre-loaded $ 40 bus vouchers ( for use across the Bay of Plenty ), as well as the grand prize of an e-bike trial for a week .
The final 14 prize winners have now been drawn and contacted . Helen Surgeoner , from Tauranga , won the grand prize of a week-long e-bike trial .
“ This is really stage one in the sense of gathering the data ,” says Dr Shoemack . “ We ’ re working our way through all of that now . This information will feed into the BOPDHB Travel Plan which we will have finalised by the end of the year . This will then be submitted to the Executive for their consideration .”
Helen Surgeoner ( centre ) won the grand Travel Survey prize , trialling an e-bike for a week . Also pictured BOPDHB Travel Plan Group member Thomas Larkin ( left ) and Koops Cycles owner Phil Golding ( right ).