Health Needs
MidCentral District Health Board regularly assesses the health needs of its community and the results are published in the Health Needs Assessment document.
The latest Health Needs Assessment (HNA) was issued in 2006 and is most comprehensive ever and will be used to inform comprehensive planning.
Medical officer looking at file.
Focus of MDHB's Health Needs Assessment
The focus of MidCentral DHB’s Health Needs Assessment is to gather and examine health data and look for patterns that indicate health status or health needs of the community.
For example the HNA looks at:
- Mortality rates
- Morbidity
- Demographics
- Socio-economic information
The HNA also looks at different population groupings including ethnicity, territorial authority, age groups and people living socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
The 342 page document details the health status of the DHB’s residents, and will be used as a planning tool for providing new services or developing existing services to best meet health needs.
Summary of MidCentral’s HNA
MidCentral DHB has a slightly higher population living in areas with more deprived NZDep scores compared to New Zealand. MidCentral’s highest populations are in decile 8 and 9 areas, and have more people in decile 10 than decile 1.
The picture for Maori in MidCentral is worse. By far the largest proportion of Maori live in more deprived areas, and there is only a very small population of Maori in the least deprived areas.
For individual territorial authorities, Horowhenua and Kapiti Coast districts have the highest proportions of people living in NZDep ranked deprived areas.
Mortality
Circulatory system disorders, cancers, respiratory system disorders, and external causes (unintentional and intentional injuries) are the top four causes of mortality for the MidCentral district.
MidCentral’s overall mortality rate from 1999 to 2001 was 10% higher than New Zealand’s. MidCentral’s mortality rates from circulatory disease and external causes were higher than New Zealand’s rates, by 15% and 20% respectively (1999 to 2001 data).
MidCentral Maori and New Zealand Maori experienced higher than expected numbers of deaths from: all causes, circulatory disease (over double the expected number), respiratory disease, and external causes (although MidCentral Maori figures do not reach statistical significance for external causes).
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Last Updated 02/06/2009