Access Research and Evaluation Project

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Current Project

Current Project

District variations in rates of hospital admission
This project is a continuation of previous work on this topic. In 2008 a paper was published on changes in the level of hospital care over the last 15 years; it also described changes in variation across districts in that time. Further work analysing levels of surgery and variation between districts within a surgical specialty is planned. This will also look at the impact of private surgery and additional government funding for elective surgery on variation.

Funding:Health Services Research Centre.
HSRC Researcher: Antony Raymont.

Access to medicines.
This HRC funded project is looking at inequities in access to medicines in the Gisborne region, 2007-2009. Data has been collected from pharmacies in the Gisborne region and is being compared with pharmaceutical data held by the New Zealand Health Information Service. The data are currently being collaged ready for analysis. Otago University is the lead university for this project.

Funding: Health Research Council of New Zealand.
HSRC Researcher: Jackie Cumming.

Access to services for vulnerable populations.
A DHBNZ/HRC funded initative conducting a stocktake of projects in New Zealand designed to improve access to services and an evaluation of particular projects with a view to encouraging other DHBs to use these systems.
CBG Health Ltd are the lead investigators. A review of the international literature on ways to improve access to primary care was completed in 2008. An intervention which will deliver education to the staff of primary care providers and allow outreach nurses to contact those who under-use services has been planned and will commence in January 2009.

Funding: DHBNZ / Health Research Council of New Zealand.
HSRC Researchers: Antony Raymont, Jackie Cumming.

Surgical needs analysis.
This project calculated the number of surgeons that will be required in New Zealand to 2026 based on population projections and on an estimate of current unmet surgical need. It also included a survey of all New Zealand surgeons concerning their activities and their working conditions. The projections were published in the NZ Medical Journal and informed recent proposals by the Minister of Health to increase the volume of elective surgery. The information on surgeons’ activities and working conditions, including resource limitations they face, will be published in the ANZ Journal of Surgery (March 2009).

Funding: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
HSRC Researcher: Antony Raymont.