While some new bosses might have wished to have played a role in shaping the strategy they were hired to implement, Mr Swanson-Dobbs said there were plenty of interesting challenges ahead of him to make the plan a reality.
''There are some lovely items in there to be achieved, but some of them are incredibly difficult and we don't have all the details in there.
''It's really easy to say shift this service or change this model of care and you will achieve this outcome, but that's a huge amount of work and it will take time.''
A trained psychologist, Mr Swanson-Dobbs has had a 17-year career in primary health administration.
This included a prior chief executive role in Nelson.
He had previously helped implement ''health care homes'' in Midland DHB, so was excited about the prospect of rolling out similar changes on a bigger scale.
Health care homes are a modernised, integrated GP service.
''The strategy is about bringing people together. It's not about buildings; it is asking people to do things differently and work together as teams,'' Mr Swanson-Dobbs said.
''Change is challenging and difficult, but it's done for the right reasons and if you can do it and take people along for the journey it's a lot easier to achieve.
''Health care homes ... what really makes a difference is when you sit down with communities and we explain what we want to achieve and talk about it from a patient perspective and what they will see that's different - they drive the change agenda faster than what the health professionals can.''
A large percentage of the general practice workforce is expected to retire in the next decade, and health care homes were an important part of WellSouth planning for a time when the ratio of patients to each GP rose markedly.
That included greater use of digital technology to interact with health professionals as opposed to clinic visits.
''If we can put those things in place, it will make it easier for patients to access their health system and achieve better health outcomes.''
While much of his workload would be taken up with the primary and community care strategy, Mr Swanson-Dobbs, who was recently involved in piloting a new primary mental health care model, also wanted to improve primary mental health services in the southern region.
''We need to be part of the national conversation on mental health services and what needs to happen, and in the Budget coming up I would hope primary mental health [is something] the government will be investing in, because it is desperately needed.''
