Autonomy important, PHO chief says

The chief of a Dunedin primary health organisation that excelled in a national league table fears its performance will be threatened when it is absorbed into the new Otago-Southland PHO.

Nine PHOs in Otago and Southland will cease to operate in June to form the new super PHO.

Mornington PHO chief executive Barbara Bridger said she was "quite excited" to see a Ministry of Health league table that revealed Mornington placed in the top five New Zealand PHOs on seven measures, the only one to do so.

The super PHO entity worried her, the structure of which had not been finalised.

Mornington PHO had a slightly higher number of "high needs" constituents, such as Maori and Pacific Islanders, than the Otago census average, and had developed strong networks with them.

The only single-practice PHO in the South Island, the fact it was "in tune" with its constituents helped it score the top results, which included cardiovascular risk assessments, cervical screening, and influenza vaccine rates, she said.

Ms Bridger wanted an assurance that budgets could be ringfenced to ensure Mornington Health Centre, although no longer a PHO, could continue its work unchanged.

She wanted to be positive about the change to a single PHO.

However, so far the Otago and Southland district health boards had not provided specifics about what, if any, autonomy would remain.

Ms Bridger believed Mornington's small size had been integral to its success.

She accepted the concerns of some PHOs about the accuracy of figures on the table, but the data was the "best we've got".

Otago and Southland regional DHB chief executive Brian Rousseau, in an email to the Otago Daily Times, said he was confident Mornington Health Centre would "continue to flourish" as part of the Otago-Southland PHO.

It would be treated the same as all other health practices in the new PHO, he said.

PHO transition board chairman Conway Powell said he was pleased with the performance of all Otago and Southland PHOs on the league table, and also on other indicators.

Many PHO chiefs felt their "babies" were under threat by the super PHO, and he understood anxiety about the change.

However, times had changed since most PHOs were set up. They now needed to be leaner and more efficient, he said.

After Mornington, the next best-performing Otago PHO was Taieri and Strath Taieri, which was in the top five for three measures, but in the bottom five for prescription costs, in which it was one of the spenders.

 - eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz