1. The Government's strategy titled "Reduced Waiting Times for Public Hospital Elective Services" (released March 2000) set out the following objectives:

a All patients with a level of need which can be met within the resources available are provided with surgery within six months of assessment;

b Delivery of a level of publicly funded service which is sufficient to ensure access to elective surgery before patients reach a state of unreasonable distress, ill health, and/or incapacity;

c National equity of access to electives - so that patients have similar access to elective services, regardless of where they live;

d A maximum waiting time of six months for first specialist assessment.

2.  Otago DHB's goal in response to this strategy is to achieve the following objectives:

a. Match the commitments they give to patients against Otago DHB's capacity to deliver on those commitments (Patient flow management);

b. Deliver the maximum volume of elective services possible (Level of Service);

c. Ensure that services are provided to those patients with the highest priority (Order of Service) and;

3. The biggest challenge Otago DHB faces is the mismatch between patient demand and our capacity to meet this demand.  We manage this mismatch using three principles:

a Clarity, where all patients know if they will receive publicly funded services or not;

b Timeliness, where access to services can be provided within the available capacity, patients receive it in a timely manner and;

c Fairness, that the resources available are directed to those most in need.