Thu Sep 12 01:00:32 UTC 2024: ## Government Unveils Plan to Achieve Five Health Targets
**Wellington, New Zealand** – Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s implementation plan to achieve its five key health targets, which the Commissioner of Health NZ has confirmed can be achieved within existing resources.
The targets, laid out earlier this year, aim to:
* Reduce emergency department wait times.
* Shorten specialist and treatment wait times.
* Improve child immunisation rates.
* Expedite access to cancer treatments.
* Increase access to stem cell transplantation.
The plan includes strategies such as expanding bed and operating theatre capacity in public hospitals, increasing the use of private hospitals, separating acute care from planned care to minimize cancellations, investing in new radiography machines for cancer treatment, and establishing community infusion centers to provide chemotherapy closer to home.
Dr Reti emphasized the government’s commitment to addressing healthcare needs, stating, “We’re already investing more in health than any Government in New Zealand’s history – around $30 billion a year,” adding that the government is “turning our backs on wasteful spending.”
“Every dollar spent on health is precious,” he stated. “Our targets are designed so that every New Zealander should experience the change for themselves, however and whenever they need healthcare.”
While the plan has received approval from the Commissioner of Health, Labour’s Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall criticized the targets as “half-baked,” claiming they were a last-minute addition to the government’s 100-day plan and lacked focus on primary care.
The government’s commitment to achieving these health targets will be closely monitored as they aim to make a tangible difference in the lives of New Zealanders.
First Piper 