Introduction Background Well / Tamariki Ora (WCTO) is a free health service offered to all New Zealand children from birth to five years. Its aim is to support families and whānau to maximise their child’s developmental potential and health status, establishing a strong foundation for ongoing healthy development. The 2007/08 review and the 2012 quality reviews of the WCTO programme identified variable clinical practice, service quality and health outcomes. They all recommended that an based quality framework be developed to ensure the programme consistently achieves its aims. In response, the Ministry of Health, in partnership with sector expert advisors, developed the WCTO Quality Improvement Framework, drawing on New Zealand and international research. The Framework has high-level aims, which focus on the WCTO experience of families and whānau, population health, and best value for the health system’s resources. The Framework also sets quality indicators to monitor health system performance. The Framework and quality indicators provide a mechanism to drive improvement in the delivery of WCTO services. Ultimately, they aim to support the WCTO programme to ensure all children and their families and whānau achieve their health and wellbeing potential. Development of the quality indicators The aim of the quality indicators is to monitor and promote quality improvement across WCTO providers without creating an additional reporting burden. As such, the quality indicators are a subset of potential measures drawn from existing data collections and reporting mechanisms. The quality indicators are broadly grouped under the categories of: universal access (access) equitable outcomes (outcomes) continuous quality improvement (quality). All quality indicators will be reported on by region, ethnicity and deprivation quintile, possible, and the results will be published six-monthly. This is the second report on the quality indicators. As information collection improves and the WCTO programme evolves, indicators may be added or changed. The Ministry of Health will review the quality indicators at least every three years.
Introduction Background Well / Tamariki Ora (WCTO) is a free health service offered to all New Zealand children from birth to five years. Its aim is to support families and whānau to maximise their child’s developmental potential and health status, establishing a strong foundation for ongoing healthy development. The 2007/08 review and the 2012 quality reviews of the WCTO programme identified variable clinical practice, service quality and health outcomes. They all recommended that an quality framework be developed to ensure the programme consistently achieves its aims. In response, the Ministry of Health, in partnership with sector expert advisors, developed the WCTO Quality Improvement Framework, drawing on New Zealand and international research. The Framework has high-level aims, which focus on the WCTO experience of families and whānau, population health, and best value for the health system’s resources. The Framework also sets quality indicators to monitor health system performance. The Framework and quality indicators provide a mechanism to drive improvement in the delivery of WCTO services. Ultimately, they aim to support the WCTO programme to ensure all children and their families and whānau achieve their health and wellbeing potential. Development of the quality indicators The aim of the quality indicators is to monitor and promote quality improvement across WCTO providers without creating an additional reporting burden. As such, the quality indicators are a subset of potential measures drawn from existing data collections and reporting mechanisms. The quality indicators are broadly grouped under the categories of: universal access (access) equitable outcomes (outcomes) continuous quality improvement (quality). All quality indicators will be reported on by region, ethnicity and deprivation quintile, possible, and the results will be published six-monthly. This is the second report on the quality indicators. As information collection improves and the WCTO programme evolves, indicators may be added or changed. The Ministry of Health will review the quality indicators at least every three years. based
indicators-well-child-tamariki-ora-quality-improvement-framework-sept2014-jan15-v2.docx