‘Community health hub’ to be considered

Chris Swann
Chris Swann
Waitaki District Health Services will consider whether it becomes a "community health hub" as it implements its plan to change the way health care is carried out in the district, Waitaki District Health Services chairman Chris Swann says.

The Southern District Health Board’s (the health board)  recently released Southern Primary and Community Care Strategy was closely aligned to a plan WDHS created last year after a lengthy joint review of services at Oamaru Hospital with the health board as the two sides came to terms with a new funding agreement for the area.

Both the plan for Oamaru Hospital and the health board’s new strategy called for some form of health "hub".

"It’s not a new idea — it was in the model of care plan that we developed," Mr Swann said.

"We’re obviously going to be talking to the board about ... what they envisage their hub to look like, what we’ve got as a vision for a hub, how they align.

"There’s a whole process to go through to become a hub. You don’t all of a sudden decide you’re going to be a hub."

The health board describes community health hubs as "community focused, co-located and integrated groups of health providers" which could include outpatients clinics, day surgery, pre-admission clinics, rehabilitation services, tele-health clinics, expanded mental health services, renal dialysis, nurse-led and allied health-led clinics. Mr Swann said, locally, WDHS was "constantly evolving" its plan and the next two years would be crucial as the future look of how health care was delivered settled into place.

"There will be a lot happening in the next two to three years," he said.

"I believe it is going to be very beneficial for the health services in the community."

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

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