Four healthcare priorities for Waitaki have been identified following community feedback.

Last year Te Waka Hauora o Waitaki - Waitaki Health Futures Project (a partnership between Waitaki District Council, Te Runanga o Moeraki and Health New Zealand) was launched to improve coordination and access to health and wellbeing services for the people of Waitaki.

Feedback was sought from a range of people who use the district's healthcare services, including community and whānau, as well as local service providers.

Health New Zealand community integration manager Aroha Metcalf says knowing how people experience health services as consumers and providers is important to balance the data and information around access, utilisation, and need.

"To do this, we want to know how people use these services and what they like and don't like about them," she says.

A three-week survey, launched in September, garnered 2200 comments from 737 respondents, and another 278 comments were gathered through six community engagement sessions held across the district.

The four priority areas identified are: making it easier for people to navigate the health system; improving access to services, increasing local workforce capacity and flexibility; and making enhancements to some services.

The Waitaki Health Futures Project survey asked about people's experience with current healthcare services as well as their future requirements. Photo: Supplied

Aroha says the project aims to remove some of the barriers to health services, address inequity of health outcomes that some rural communities experience, and relieve pressure on some tertiary services in the region.

Possible considerations for improvement include improving communication between Oamaru Hospital Emergency Department and Aged Residential Care facilities, opening referral pathways to Timaru Hospital, expanding vaccination access for priority populations, and improving pathways for older people to transition from hospital care to at-home care.

Four priority areas are improved navigation, access, workforce and service delivery. Photo: Supplied

The project will now roll out in three phases.

Phase one seeks to identify immediate actions, streamline hospital services and fast-track existing initiatives.

Phase two intends to strengthen networks between health services and opportunities to combine clinical approaches and/or co-locate services.

Phase three focuses on integrating primary, community and hospital services in a single-service approach across the continuum of care.

Implementation of improvements is expected to begin early next year.

The Waitaki Health Futures Project is intended to deliver improvements in three stages. Photo: Supplied

Waitaki District Council partnerships manager Helen Algar says community and local health leaders have worked closely with Health New Zealand to support a unified response to local community engagement. 

“It’s fantastic that implementation is already under way, with more planning to come,” she says.

Other key partners in the project include Oamaru Hospital; providers Te Hā o Maru and the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group (OPICG); the WellSouth primary health network; and the Stronger Waitaki coalition.  

A summary of the community engagement results can be found here: