Foreword
Our health system aims, above all else, to improve the health of our population. So to manage this complex system effectively and efficiently, we need to be able to measure population health. Health expectancy – a generalisation of life expectancy to include non-fatal as well as fatal health outcomes – provides just such a metric.
Health expectancy, in the form of independent life expectancy (the expectation of life free of functional limitation requiring assistance), has been used by the Ministry of Health as a summary measure of the performance of our health system for some years. Since 2003, this metric has served as the peak health indicator in documents such as the Ministry’s Statement of Intent and its Health and Independence Report, as well as the Ministry of Social Development’s overarching Social Report.
Yet opportunities remain for wider application of health expectancy indicators within the health policy space, and methods for constructing these indicators are not yet fully standardised. Accordingly, in 2008 the Ministry of Health and Statistics New Zealand produced a joint discussion paper Health Expectancy: Toward Tier 1 Official Statistic Status, to seek advice on this issue. We are grateful to all those individuals and organisations who responded to this discussion paper with useful suggestions and constructive criticism.
Based on this consultation, the Ministry and Statistics NZ have now produced the current report Longer Life, Better Health? Trends in health expectancy in New Zealand, 1996–2006. This report sets out standard definitions and methods for health expectancy indicators, and makes recommendations as to the appropriate indicator for most health policy applications. The report also provides final estimates for health expectancy over the past decade. While it is pleasing to note that all health expectancy indicators have improved, some expansion of morbidity has also occurred. This has clear implications for health policy, especially in the context of an ageing population.
This report will now provide a key input into Statistics NZ’s formal process for conferring Tier 1 official statistic status on health expectancy as a headline health indicator. Whatever the outcome of this process, this report will help policy makers, planners, and funders in the health sector make better use of these indicators for the assessment and management of health system performance – and so contribute to better informed health policy, wiser investment decisions, and consequently better health for us all.
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