From Kathy Grant
Our journey towards creating a more sustainable, patient-centred health system is continuing, and we are pleased to have made good progress against some important milestones in recent months.
Supporting changes to primary and community care
Following the positive feedback we received on the Primary and Community Care Strategy shared earlier this year, we’re now finalising the strategy and moving towards implementing this.
The first step is to call for GP practices willing to take on the process of becoming a “Health Care Home”.
This means working towards a set of expectations around how these practices operate, from providing some level of after-hours care to introducing a wider range of consultation options (such as phone consultations) and making use of digital technology such as patient portals.
Home as my First Choice
I was excited to attend the launch of this important initiative recently, and you can read more in this issue of Better Health.
As we and our loved ones become older, we do need to test our assumptions about what kind of support and care is needed.
This campaign calls on us all to genuinely ask the question of our older people, ‘where do you most want to live?’ And if the answer is home, then start from the perspective of ‘what do we all need to do to help enable this?’.
We may not always be aware of the support that is available and the solutions that could be found unless we challenge ourselves to really explore this question.
National bowel screening programme
Finally, I would like to congratulate everyone involved in the preparations for the roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme at Southern DHB.
This is a very significant initiative that has the potential to save lives across our communities – as long as everyone who is eligible does participate!
I encourage everyone who receives a kit in the mail to take advantage of this important opportunity, and please encourage your friends, neighbours and whanau to do the same.
Questions? Email: commissioner@southerndhb.govt.nz
Click the links below to read more:
National Bowel Screening Programme - Starting Soon!
ICU nurse flies into retirement
Free B4 School Check for a healthy start
