Amid talk of "no more money", the district’s residents were invited to give feedback on shaping health services under the Te Waka Hauora o Waitaki — Waitaki Health Futures Project.
Just 3% of Waitaki’s population of just over 25,000 participated in late September and early October.
Four priorities have now been identified:
- Make it easier to navigate the health system;
- Improve access to services such as first specialist appointments;
- Increase local health workforce capacity and flexibility;
- Enhance some services, such as how older people transition from hospital to at-home care.
It follows the negotiated transfer of the Oamaru Hospital from Waitaki District Health Services Ltd (WDHS) to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) in July.
The survey was a condition of the transfer — to better understand the real demand for health services across the district.
Former WDHS chief executive Keith Marshall has previously suggested the transfer was positive — so long as it was not about "rearranging the deck chairs".
Mr Marshall told the Oamaru Mail in September, a rethink for a more integrated approach for centres such as Oamaru was "a decade overdue" because the existing funding arrangements, that emerged out of the 1990s health reforms, were no longer fit for purpose.
"This is a good thing. This hasn’t happened for a very long time — if ever," he said in September.
"As long as it is not capped by existing funding and as long as it’s data driven."
A prime example had been the Oamaru ED being underfunded for the past two decades, Mr Marshall said.
Based on funding 4000 patient presentations per annum, the real demand was invariably more than 50% higher, he said.
HNZ community integration group manager Aroha Metcalf said the health futures project was about improving co-ordination and access to health and wellbeing services across the district.
It had wanted to know how people used existing services, and what they liked and did not like about them, she said.
Ms Metcalf described the feedback as "significant", with nearly 2200 comments from the 737 respondents in the survey.
A further 278 comments also came through six community sessions.
Improved access might include allowing Waitaki people to be referred to Timaru Hospital rather than just Dunedin Hospital.
The project rollout would now be staged, she said.
"Implementation of immediate improvements that can be made are already under way as part of phase one of the project.
"Phase two will begin midway through next year and involves improving co-ordination and connectivity between health services."
A third phase from early 2025 was to develop a local health system where primary, community and hospital services operated together "in an integrated way," Ms Metcalf said.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he was encouraged HNZ was now working "alongside" local health organisations in Waitaki.
The survey results should also give "some clout" to get buy-in from central funding agencies, he said.
It came at a time of innovation in the likes of telehealth utilisation and better appointment co-ordination — against the backdrop of the incomplete new regional hospital.
"It was looking at how we do things more effectively. Part of that is tied to the new Dunedin Hospital ... If it can be front-of-mind as they’re developing new systems, and try to be more efficient as far as everything is developed, it has to be good."
However, all the survey points had been identified previously — especially the need to avoid sending Waitaki people on multiple unco-ordinated appointments to Dunedin.
"There has always been a lot of talk about breaking down silos in Dunedin ... [co-ordination] makes it simpler and is certainly more cost effective, and just means we’re more likely to get the healthcare people need."
