The incorrect data has since been pulled and Health New Zealand apologised for the publishing error. (File image) Photo: RNZ / DOM THOMAS
Te Whatu Ora has tasked the former head of Waitematā DHB with investigating how flawed hospital statistics were released online.
A regional breakdown of monthly ED wait times showed many areas last year lagged well behind the historic target of 95 percent of people being seen within six hours. This was consistent throughout 2022, before Northland, Southern and Taranaki EDs reported near-perfect figures in November and December.
The incorrect data has since been pulled and Health New Zealand apologised, adding that the underlying data was sound, butthere had been a publishing error.
Previously, Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said officials had told her the error occurred when the data was published in spreadsheet form because "there was an error in the lighting up of some of the cells and that led to the poor calculations that were then included".
Te Whatu Ora improvement and innovation national director Dr Dale Bramley. Photo: Supplied / Te Whatu Ora
"The key thing here is that the data that decision-makers in the health system - whether they're in the districts, in Te Whatu Ora, myself or the board - we had the correct data," she said.
"The error only came about when it was published in the website."
However, one of the two usual quality assurance processes had not been carried out in this case, Verrall said.
Te Whatu Ora chief executive Margie Apa said the organisation's improvement and innovation national director, Dr Dale Bramley, was leading the work to identify how to improve the system so it did not happen again.
Dr Bramley was the chief executive of Waitematā DHB for more than 10 years.
Apa apologised for the confusion caused this week, saying she understood how important information was for transparency and trust.
Media reports - which quoted Verrall referring to the incorrect data and saying wait times were reducing - were wrong, Verrall said.
"I did not say that, but my office did provide a link to that data that we now know is inaccurate," she said.
"I accept that it must have been extremely frustrating to the staff in emergency departments who saw those false comments attributed to me. I spent a lot of time talking to them to understand the true picture and I'm disappointed those didn't come across.