The Ministry of Health has released for the first time league table details showing which groups of doctors' practices in New Zealand are doing the best and worst at meeting community health needs.
The information was released to Radio New Zealand under the Official Information Act, ranking the performance and effectiveness of the country's 80 Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) on a range of health goals.
The sensitive information compares PHOs in the areas such as immunising children, detecting diabetes, assessing the risk of heart disease and cervical cancer screening.
PHOs channel government funding to doctors' practices primarily, receiving extra as an incentive if they meet targets across key health indicators.
The information released ranks the top five and the bottom five PHOs in those issues.
It shows that some PHOs in Hutt Valley, Wairarapa, Wellington and Hawke's Bay are top at immunisation.
Tamaiti Whangai and Ropata in Hutt Valley, Family Care in Wairarapa, Tumai mo to Iwi in Wellington, and Wairoa District Charitable Health in Hawke's Bay are shown to be best at immunising children.
Five PHOs in Counties-Manukau, Northland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato are at the bottom.
Some reservations from GPs
The Medical Association's General Practitioner Council says the information is good in some aspects but less reliable in others where it is drawn from national rather doctor databases.
It says when that is fixed the details should be more widely available, to enable PHOs to do better.
Council chair Mark Peterson, a Napier GP, says the data is not entirely accurate yet.
He says it should also include details indicating the challenge involved in lifting health in some areas.
Health Minister Tony Ryall says the tables are robust and should be publicly available within months.
