CE update - August 2019 by Health NZ - Waikato

CE UPDATE News and views about our health from

AUGUST 2019 Waikato DHB Chief Executive Dr Kevin Snee

Over the past week or so I have been out and about meeting lots of people, seeing all the good work you are doing. I know this is a very busy time for us and that Waikato Hospital is seeing large volumes of very unwell people. Managing these volumes puts pressure on us and I want to thank everyone involved in caring for the large numbers of patients and ensuring they have the appropriate care. I am really looking forward to getting to know the organisation better and understanding our challenges. To do that I thought I would introduce myself and tell you a bit about my background. I come from an urban industrial town called Widnes in the northwest of England. My ancestors were originally Irish Catholic economic migrants who arrived in England at the turn of the 20th century in search of a better life. My father was a forklift driver and my mother worked in the canteen at the local primary school. When I was growing up I lived in a little terraced house in the town centre we were pretty impoverished as were most people locally. If I reflect on the poor stats we see for Māori in relation to life expectancy, it was similar for us – both my grandfathers died in their 50s and my father died when he was 62.

arm with the PHO integrated within it and with responsibility for Community Services provision. This involved bringing together a number of organisations that were in a bit of disarray and with a deficit. We dealt with that, and in fact we ended up with a reputation for developing a lot of progressive community services and developing community based secondary care services e.g. rheumatology, orthopaedics, diabetes, paediatrics, older peoples.

My next CE role in 2006 was in a bigger and much more complex Primary Care Trust covering the whole of Devon, with a budget of more than $2.5 billion and a staff of over I was lucky enough to have a mother who wanted her 4000. There were seven primary care trusts to bring together, children to get an education and I passed the entrance exam a deficit to fix and multiple government agencies to deal to get into a grammar school in Liverpool. In Liverpool as with and hospital trusts to commission services from. The a Manchester United fan I suffered many years of pain at downside was I was spending all my time at work and a time when Liverpool FC won everything and United were missing time with my family who were very young at the relegated! From there I went to Liverpool Medical School. time (children aged 2, 4 and 6). So, when an opportunity came up as chief executive of Hawkes Bay DHB in October After I qualified I initially trained 2009, we moved to New Zealand in general practice and did an "My approach will be to set a for a better lifestyle and a range extended GP programme – which of the challenges I enjoy. It was clear direction and to support and involved doing more obstetrics and enable you to get the job done." another organisation which had a gynaecology as well as paediatrics, number of problems – the Board had with the intention of doing voluntary been sacked and the government work overseas. However, NHS reforms at the time gave had brought in commissioners. I spent almost 10 years in greater prominence to community medicine (later called Hawke’s Bay and enjoyed my time there. public health) which had increasingly become my passion. So I spent a very happy 14 years as a public health I was attracted to Waikato because we have some difficult physician, first as a registrar/lecturer, then after my consultant challenges to deal with both in terms of our organisation and roles I became a Director of Public Health in Bury and in terms of the needs of our community. One way or another, Rochdale Health Authority in 1995, an area with profound these are the kind of challenges that I have been dealing inequalities and problems with local services. I initially had with for the majority of my professional life, so I am looking a team that had major problems that I was able to improve forward to working with you all to address them. significantly. While in this role I completed my MBA, took on My approach will be to set a clear direction and to support a series of additional general management roles and more and enable you to get the job done. I am very prepared to importantly met my wife Annie. take difficult decisions which may not always make me very In 2002 I took up my first role as chief executive of Bolton popular, but I will always be clear why the decisions have Primary Care Trust which was essentially like a DHB funder been taken. Continued on page 2

Healthy people. Excellent care

CE UPDATE

AUGUST 2019

Continued from page 1

I will not sit in my office all day but will be visible in the organisation and available if you have serious concerns. One of the great joys of working in the health service is working with thousands of smart people who want to innovate and change things to improve services for our community. Improving the quality and safety of our services is key and an important part of this is being able to speak up if you see things going wrong whoever you are in the organisation. That is why the Speaking Up for Safety Programme is so important. Fairness and equity are important principles to me both in the way we work with each other and in the way we deliver our service.

That is why I believe strongly that we need to tackle unconscious bias and institutional racism which is prevalent across all DHBs in New Zealand. As I said on my first week I recognise that there is a lot to learn about Waikato DHB and I have already learnt that there is a lot that people here can be proud of. I also know that we have some challenges to face and the answers to those will come from us working together. Ultimately Waikato DHB is only as good as the people who work in it and it’s my job to make sure that you can fulfill your potential to ensure that our local community gets the high quality service they deserve.

My priorities To give us some focus, I have set out priorities to work on over the coming months.

We will address issues of patient safety and quality of care.

Equally important is addressing the profound inequities that exist in our community and in particular improving the health of Māori.

We will improve access and efficiency of our services – there is little point in having great services if they are difficult to access or if they are accessed in an inequitable way.

We must work in an integrated way with our primary care colleagues and NGOs.

We have a key role to play in civic leadership so we will work constructively with our public sector partners and local iwi to address economic development and social inclusion.

We will work with our Midland regional partners so that we fulfill our role as the tertiary provider in a constructive way.

We will work in a fiscally prudent way - we have to live within our means.

Thoughts for our Mental Health and Addictions services staff It’s been a very difficult week for our Mental Health and Addictions services staff. We had a very sad situation in the weekend (25 August) where someone in our care has gone out for approved leave and did not come back and it has ended in tragic circumstances. Staff followed all the right processes and have been working closely with the family to support them through this tragedy. Not only is it a very sad situation for the family but also very sad for the people who worked with this person and for the Mental Health and Addictions services. The work they do is challenging and yet also rewarding and I have heard about and witnessed the great job that they all do. Thank you for your hard work and please be reassured that all staff will have my ongoing support. Keep up the great work Kia kaha Dr Kevin Snee

AUGUST 2019

CE UPDATE

Secondment of executive director to lead the programme of work to “restart and reshape” our organisation

Waikato DHB wants to ensure it delivers on its vision – Healthy People. Excellent Care.

One of the first things I have put in place as new CE is a transformation programme – this work will be focused on improving what we do, both in our hospitals and our community services. A significant part of the Transformation Programme is based on the findings of the Resource Review which outlined a number of problems and opportunities for improvement. The Resource Review recommendations are well aligned with the directions and actions set out in the Waikato Health System Plan, Te Korowai Waiora – the Transformation Programme will also be the mechanism for implementing the Waikato Health System Plan, Te Korowai Waiora.

Tanya Maloney

Tanya Maloney, Executive Director – Strategy, Funding and Public Health, will take on the role to lead this programme of work. Tanya is well known to many of you and has made a great contribution to the organisation over the last few years, resolving some of our past challenges. Tanya will pull a team together in the next few weeks and will be meeting with many of you to discuss your involvement in the process. He waka eke noa, we are all in this together. Philip Grady will step into Tanya’s current role as Interim Executive Director – Strategy, Funding and Public Health. Phil is an experienced health care professional who recently joined us as the Director of Funding and Provider Relationships.

More about the Transformation Programme

The Transformation Programme of work that will ensure that our new initiatives, improvement and change work is aligned with our strategic priorities. We want to achieve our goals of improved quality of care; of population health and equity; and we need to live within our means. To do this, we must ensure that clinical quality is prioritised and that we stabilise the DHB’s financial position. The programme includes five workstreams covering operational improvement, whānau focused services, locality development, models of care (and clinical services planning) and corporate and governance improvement. This is a large programme of work and it will take several years for it to be fully realised; significant changes don’t happen quickly.

Transformation programme Workstreams Operational improvement

End to end models of care

Corporate

Whānau focussed services

Locality development

CE UPDATE

AUGUST 2019

Waikato Health System Plan, Te Korowai Waiora The commissioners have approved the Waikato Health System Plan, Te Korowai Waiora at their monthly meeting this week.

Vision for good health and wellbeing in the Waik ato North Waikato

North Ruapehu

Thames - Coromand Greater Hamilton

PEO

PLE

EAR AT H

HOSPITAL

IWI N GAKAUNUI COMMU NITY HEALTH SERVIC ES

HEALT H SERVI CES

Enhance wellbeing and prevent

ion

The Waikato Health System Plan, Te Korowai Waiora is a pathway to help us do this.

Improve access and choice close to where people live

The plan puts people at its heart. It describes a vision where every person and whānau in the Waikato has the opportunity to reach their full health potential.

Click here to view the plan or visit www.waikatodhb.health.nz/hsp

el - Hauraki

We need to make big changes to meet the challenges of the future and to have a health system that works for our communities.

The actions of the plan form part of the Transformation Programme along with the Waikato DHB Resource Review.

Waitomo - Otorohan Matamata - Piako

South Waikato

Support whānau as active participants in their health

SOCIA L SERVI CES Whānau centred – listen to the voice and experience of whānau

SCHOOL LIBRAR Y

COMM UNITY SERVI CES

Address determinants

of health

WAIKATO

A plan to improve the health and wellbeing of people of the Waikato

Something to celebrate – Blessing of Chiefs Chillout Zone I attended my first event on Tuesday 20 August – a blessing ceremony of the new Chiefs Chillout Zone for teens up on level 7 in the Play Specialist area of Waikids at Waikato Hospital. The Chiefs fundraised around $40,000 to create a special room for our teenagers who need to stay in hospital for long periods of time for ongoing treatment. Somewhere to go where they can enjoy the company of other teens away from the noise of infants and younger children. It is great to have those community partnerships that add that little bit ‘extra nice to have’ comforts that we as an organisation can’t really afford. I look forward to ongoing support from the Chiefs.

This update will be published monthly, if you have anything happening in your area and think I should know about it please email news@waikatodhb.health.nz