Manawatu PHO rates poorly

The Manawatu Primary Health Organisation received two black marks in a league table of performance indicators that was released for the first time this week.

It was among the bottom five of the country's 80 PHOs for the total cost of GP prescribing of pharmaceuticals, and for diabetes drug control.

The PHOs were measured against 10 performance gauges, and eight other indicators that don't carry any incentives or penalties.

Manawatu PHO manager Nicky Hart said the league table was based on information to June last year. Since then, the PHO had reduced its GP pharmacy bill by 3 per cent.

The diabetes drug control indicator looked at the proportion of certain drugs that were prescribed. At the time the figures were recorded, Manawatu doctors appeared to be prescribing more of some drugs than national guidelines suggested, but the reasons for that were complex, Ms Hart said.

The PHO didn't make it into the top-five for any of the measures, including things like breast and cervical cancer screening, diabetes detection and follow-up, childhood and flu vaccination rates, and heart disease risk assessment and detection.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said the tables were likely to be publicly reported on with updated data in future, similar to the health target tables that are already published on district health board performance.

- © Fairfax NZ News