Prof Chris Jackson’s comments come after Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) issued a four-page spread of health results for the past quarter in yesterday’s newspaper, ranking every former health board district in tables.
The tables focus on cancer treatment, childhood immunisations, stays in emergency departments and wait lists for elective procedures and first specialist assessments.
The cancer treatment targets had become "meaningless", Prof Jackson said.
"It doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to get diagnosed. This is not measured by the target. It’s only how long from the diagnosis to the start of treatment, so that’s a poor target.
"We need to think more broadly about what other types of health targets we need as well, and some of those are how long it takes for someone to see an oncologist, for example."
A classic example of why the targets needed reconsideration was "Blair Vining’s situation", Prof Jackson said.
"He was told he had eight weeks to live and two months to see a specialist.
"Now, officially, Blair would have met the target because the target was 62 days, but no-one in their right mind would think it was acceptable for a guy with two months to live to have eight weeks to see a specialist."
Faster cancer treatment was one of the best performing of all of the cancer targets, Prof Jackson said.
"It’s almost at 90%, but it also shows probably that it’s time to rethink the targets and think of a new one which captures more patients with cancer, is more meaningful to people with cancer and better affects the performance of the cancer sector.
"So sure, the target’s doing better than it has done in the past, but is it capturing the whole system thing well?"
New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels said the spread of results across the other targets was not massive.
"The overall picture doesn’t show massive increases. They’re quite marginal, so they’re not statistically significant.
"They’re too small to be called a success.
"In any case, any improvement in delivery must be attributed to the hospitals’ staff, who work in difficult understaffed, underfunded conditions."
The Southern region showed improved scores in the April to June 2025 quarter in all categories barring shorter emergency department stays (the six-hour turnover rate dropped from 76.4% to 74.3% compared with the previous quarter) but was not top of the table in any categories.
However, it showed strong progress in faster cancer treatment (82% to 83.5%) and improved immunisation (86% to 87.6%).
On a nationwide level, the Southern region was one of the worst for wait times for a first specialist assessment — only 55.1% received one within the first four months — and its wait for elective treatment was not much better, as only 56.5% of patients managed to get an appointment within four months.
An HNZ spokesman said health targets supported the delivery of better health outcomes for New Zealanders and improved the performance of health services throughout the country.
"Wait times have a direct impact on a person’s health, and therefore reducing these is important for patient health outcomes," the spokesman said.
"Behind every number is an individual, many waiting in pain, and their families, anxious for their loved ones to access the care that they need. The targets keep us focused and measure our progress."
