The consultation process over the possible Otago-Southland district health boards merger was criticised at the boards' disability support advisory committee meeting in Invercargill this week.
Member Helen Algar said the Otago board had historically not engaged well with its community and the way it was consulting over the possible Otago-Southland board merger was a case in point.
Mrs Algar gave the example of the Oamaru meeting on the issue which had only been attended by a few people.
More would have attended if the local community had been used to organise it.
It was crucial in future that both boards had a relationship with their communities if they wanted people to take more responsibility for their personal health.
This involved more than just consultation over single issues and what worked in one area would not necessarily be effective in another.
Fellow committee member Peter Barron said the way the Otago board consulted was an exercise in futility where the board prepared a document saying what it thought and then sent it out for comment.
"We carry on using a model that is broken."
Every time it was used, people "vote with their feet" because they saw what was being proposed as a "done deal" and there was no point in coming to a meeting.
Chairman Neville Cook said if members knew something worked in a certain area, they should not leave it to staff to organise, but raise the matter themselves.
The committee agreed with Louise Carr's suggestion the committee recommend the boards seek a communication plan for the district strategic plan, which is being developed next year.
The matter was also raised at the later community and public health advisory committee meeting where member Katie O'Connor said she was concerned at the tight timeframe for the previous strategic plan consultation which had cost about $60,000 and only a handful of people had turned up to meetings.
Creative ways of involving the community needed to be found.
She said it was excellent to hear a recommendation would be going to the boards about a communication plan.
