And what a journey it has been.
The move to replacing the board with a commissioner was a significant one, and the opportunity to reset the direction for the health system in the South.
These past weeks, we have been travelling around the district talking to our communities about our priorities, achievements, and areas of focus for the future of the DHB.
I have shared that when people ask me what our biggest challenge has been, they often imagine it was managing the deficit – but this is not the case. We could have solved the deficit by simply cutting services.
Our core focus has been to develop systems to make the most of all of the health resources across our district, and join them together.
This is the fundamental change that has been needed to position health services for the long term.
I feel very confident we have come a long way.
We started by investing in learning about your experiences and priorities in our 2016 Southern Future listening sessions, and what we heard continues to inform the direction of the DHB.
We heard that people want care that is more accessible, closer to home, and involves less wasted time. This means building a stronger primary and community based health care system. This has been a priority and, in partnership with WellSouth, we are making excellent progress implementing this strategy. For example our enhanced GP practices – Health Care Homes – are already accessible to around 40% of our population, and we are planning for more to join the programme.
We have also progressed the rebuild of the much needed new Dunedin Hospital. Again, designing a hospital for the future depends on having a strong primary health system in place, so you only need to go to a hospital when the care and equipment required demands that you do so.
We’re developing community health hubs so that if there’s a way of delivering a service closer to home, we can do so.
We have also embedded more systems to ensure that community voices are heard from right across our vast district. This includes the Community Health Council, which makes a significant contribution to our planning and processes. The first of the district’s Locality Networks to advise on future priorities has now also been established with the Central Lakes Locality Network.
A highlight this week has been formally opening the new Emergency Department, CT scanning suite and refurbished facilities at Lakes District Hospital – they have waited a long time for this upgrade and it looks stunning.
We’ve also faced some hard challenges, and addressed service issues in areas such as ophthalmology that had developed over a long period of time and required dedicated attention, and new thinking, to resolve.
It hasn’t been easy and there is still much further to go. But I am confident that the ship has turned, and we are handing over to the board a health system that is heading in a direction that will serve the community well into the future.
I would like to thank everyone who has supported our work over the past four years, in particular the 4,800 staff at Southern DHB, and the many others who work tirelessly, both in front-line roles to deliver excellent care, and behind the scenes improving our systems and process. The Commissioner team is grateful our partners across primary and community care, education, Iwi, and the many volunteers, whanau members and others whose contributions to caring for one another are often invisible, but so vital.
Nga mihi nui
Kathy Grant
For other Better Health stories for November see:
