Work under way to improve Waitaki healthcare services
Published on 17 December 2024
The following is a media release issued by Health New Zealand, shared by Waitaki District Council as a partner to the project.
Work is under way to improve Waitaki healthcare services following community engagement Community feedback on a proposal to improve coordination and access to healthcare services in the Waitaki district has revealed four priority areas for improvement.
The Waitaki community was invited to have its say on shaping the future of healthcare in the district as part of Te Waka Hauora o Waitaki - Waitaki Health Futures Project, a partnership between the Waitaki District Council, Te Runanga o Moeraki, and Health New Zealand. The project was launched last year.
“The aim of the project is to improve coordination and access to health and wellbeing services for the people of Waitaki,” Health New Zealand Community Integration Group Manager Aroha Metcalf says. “To do this, we want to know how people use these services and what they like and don’t like about them.”
Community engagement began in September and has attracted significant feedback, with a three-week survey garnering almost 2200 comments from 737 respondents. Six community engagement sessions held across the district attracted a further 278 comments. Feedback was sought from a range people who use healthcare services in Waitaki, including the community, whānau, and local service providers.
The feedback has resulted in four priority areas being identified: making it easier for people to navigate the health system; improving access to services such as first specialist appointments; increasing local workforce capacity and flexibility; and enhancements to some services, such as improving the pathway for older people to transition from hospital care to at-home care.
Improved access to healthcare services could include things like opening boundaries to allow people to be referred to Timaru Hospital rather than Dunedin Hospital. The project rollout will be staged. 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 coordination and connectivity between health services. Planning for phase three will commence early next year. This involves developing a local health system in which primary, community, and hospital services operate together in an integrated way.
Metcalf says the feedback revealed several themes that people said were important to them, including reduced wait times; greater affordability; improved transport;communication and respect; and wellbeing (such as warm housing, good kai, and exercise facilities).
“How people experience health services as consumers and providers is important to balance the data and information around access, utilisation, and need,” Metcalf says. She says the project aims to ensure publicly funded health services in the Waitaki district work together to provide comprehensive local services. “It aims to remove some of the barriers to health services; address inequity of health outcomes that some rural communities experience; and relieve pressure on some tertiary services in the region.”
Waitaki District Council Partnerships Manager Helen Algar says community and local health leaders have worked closely with Health New Zealand to support a unified response to local community engagement. “It’s fantastic that implementation is already under way, with more planning to come,” Algar says.
Other key partners in the project include Oamaru Hospital; providers Te Hā o Maru and the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group (OPICG); the WellSouth primary health network; and the Stronger Waitaki Coalition. A summary of the community engagement results can be found here.