Timeframe
2004-2007
COMPASS staff
Peter Davis
Roy Lay-Yee
Collaborators
University of Auckland
Alastair Scott
University of Otago
Robin Gauld
Description
This project aimed to assess whether four major health system reforms in New Zealand between 1988 and 2001 had adversely affected the quality of patient care – these reforms being:
- 1988–1992: Area Health Boards (AHBs) replacing Hospital Boards;
- 1993–1995: Crown Health Enterprises (CHEs) replacing planning and purchasing functions of AHBS;
- 1996–1999: Hospital and Health Services (HHS) replacing Regional Health Authorities; and
- 2000–2001: District Health Boards (DHBs) replacing the Health Funding Authority.
The study sought to answer three questions:
- How did the performance of the hospital system respond to bed reduction and the agenda of reform?;
- With the level of popular and political concern, how did patients fare in access to and quality of care?; and
- What effects did this reform period have on the quality of care, given the resulting reduction in bed count and the multiple structural reorganisations of the funding and administration of public hospitals?