Southern communities help shape future of local health care

Southern communities help shape future of local health care

Communities and healthcare staff from throughout Otago and Southland have this month contributed to one of New Zealand’s biggest ever health consultations.

By Friday 18 March, nearly 1,300 Southern DHB staff, patients and whānau will have participated in 23 listening events held in Dunedin, Balclutha, Invercargill, Alexandra, Wanaka, Queenstown and Oamaru. A further 1,980 people completed a detailed survey about their experience.

“We’ve been humbled by the response from our communities and staff, both in terms of the number of people who want to be involved in improving healthcare in our region, and the candid and constructive feedback they have shared with us,” said Deputy Commissioner Graham Crombie.

“These people have told us honestly and openly how things are, in their own words,” said Chief Executive Carole Heatly. “We have heard both positive experiences that we can learn from, as well as many aspects of our care and service that simply aren’t good enough for patients, whānau and staff, which we hear and will act on.”

Over the next six weeks, the 3,272 inputs received will be collated and analysed. This information will primarily be used to inform the culture work at the heart of Southern DHB’s strategy. “Understanding clearly what our staff and patients truly place value on, and our expectations of each other, is important for a culture of strong clinical engagement that always puts the patient first,” Mr Crombie said. “And we know from New Zealand and international experience that a strong culture will improve experience for staff and patients, improve the quality and safety of care – and we know high quality care costs less."

Southern DHB will also be agreeing action plans to address specific issues or ideas raised in the sessions and survey. “We are looking forward to further sessions in May, when we will come back to all those who have generously shared their time with us, about what we plan to do as a result of what they have told us,” Ms Heatly said.

Participants’ feedback on the sessions themselves, and the opportunity to be heard, has been overwhelmingly positive. Southern DHB intends to continue to engage with communities in this way regularly and throughout the district in future.

ENDS

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