Better Health€¦ · to identify patient safety issues by taking part in a simulation programme • Community Priority ... youth mental health service users through a model of care

Better Health

Southern DHB appoints new deputy to the CMO  Southern DHB clinical leader of oral health services, Tim Mackay, has been appointed Deputy to the Chief Medical Officer.

Tim has been with the Southern DHB for more than 20 years, serving as clinical leader of oral health services for the last 15 years. His appointment commenced 16 October.

The Deputy position, which is based in Invercargill, was created this year to provide operational and strategic advice to the Chief Medical Officer across the district and to help support the further development of senior medical leadership teams throughout the organisation.

Jen Gow, CNM Releasing Time to Care, Kim Caffell, Patient Safety and Policy Advisor, Pam Smith, Releasing Time to Care Co-ordinator and Craig MacKenzie, Pharmacy Manager, Dunedin Hospital

Mobile chemotherapy wins innovation challengeEvery year our wonderful staff are brimming with ideas to help patients. Their creativity is captured in the Southern Innovation Challenge which this year attracted 29 entries.

First place for 2017 was awarded to Amy Suddaby and Bridgett McDiarmid from the Oncology and Haematology team for their proposal to research a revolutionary pump that delivers chemotherapy to a patient in the comfort of their own home.

They received $9000 for a research project with the goal to pilot the delivery by 2020. The CADD pump was one of five winning ideas. Other successful entries include:

• Chief Executive Officer Award: Kristina Aluzaite. The Power of Light – a tool for recovery, improved mental health and quality of life

• Patient Priority Award: Gillian Fewster and Kim Snoep. Get Fit for Surgery – optimising patients’ presenting for colorectal surgery

• StaffPriorityAward: Ohad Dar and Layla Hehir. In-situ Pop-Up Simulation Programme – purchasing equipment to ensure staff have the opportunity to identify patient safety issues by taking part in a simulation programme

• Community Priority Award: Mike O’Brien, Simone Jeffrey and Naomi Gough. Instant Information Project – being able to communicate complex information quickly with a large number of people using an online communication platform.

The winners will be able to follow through with their proposal with the help of prize money and organisational support.

Southern Innovation Challenge winners Bridgett Mc-Diarmid and Amy Suddaby with CEO Chris Fleming

Intensive clinics to clear overdue urology appointmentsTwo intensive weekend ‘megaclinics’ at Dunedin Hospital in November and December are expected to clear the backlog of patients who are overdue for urology assessments and procedures at Southern DHB.

The first clinic will be held on 18-19 November, and the second on 9-10 December. It is expected these will enable 200-300 appointments per day, including first specialist assessments, diagnostic procedures and potentially some surgeries.

The New Zealand Urologists (USANZ) have organised to bring 10 additional urologists and 10 specialist nursing staff from around New Zealand to support the clinics.

“We appreciate the huge efforts of our staff and colleagues from around the country in enabling these clinics in the interests of our patients, as part of addressing the challenges in our urology services,” says Southern DHB CEO Chris Fleming.

“As well as our immediate focus on providing care for those patients who have been waiting too long, we also need to ensure the systems and resources are in place to avoid a similar waiting list developing again in the future.”

Getting behind Patient Safety Week!This year’s theme was medication safety, and during the week patients were encouraged to ask clinicians questions about their medication. Patient Safety Week is coordinated by the Health Quality & Safety Commission (HQSC) each year to create focus and raise awareness of the importance of patient safety.

November 2017

Have you liked the Southern DHB Facebook page? Check us out at: fb.com/southerndhb

Innovative Approach to Youth Primary Mental Health Services Young people will have access to groups, face-to-face support and a digital platform in an innovative approach to youth primary mental health services.

Adventure Development Limited (ADL) has been selected as the Southern DHB’s preferred provider of Youth Primary Mental Health Brief Intervention Services to young persons aged 12-19 years.

The organisation has experience helping young people and whānau who are dealing with alcohol and other drug issues and/or mental health difficulties.

It has offices in Dunedin, Timaru and Invercargill, a mobile team in the Central Lakes area, and cover other rural areas via mobile staff.

The service, which will start by January 29, will be provided by ADL through Thrive-Te Pae Ora, a service to meet the needs of rangatahi/young people experiencing mild and moderate mental health needs, substance use and co-existing problems, wherever they live in the Southern District.

Says Southern DHB General Manager, Mental Health, Addictions and Intellectual Disability Directorate, Louise Travers:

“It’s a move forward in providing better outcomes for our child and youth mental health service users through a model of care that is tiered and integrated.”“Service users will also have more choice of support through access to a digital platform, groups and face to face support from experienced, registered youth mental health practitioners,” says Adventure Development Limited Chief Executive, Clive McArthur.

“Our existing strong, district-wide network of relationships and a commitment to navigate each young person to the right support will also ensure that our service users will have access to appropriate community resources and services.”

More help for parents and whanau to stop smoking Southern DHB is making it easier for patients and whānau who smoke and want to stop, to access nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) packs.

A new initiative at Dunedin Hospital offers smokers nicotine packs when attending the Emergency Department with their children, along with a referral to the Southern Stop Smoking service. The packs include patches and gum or lozenges, as well as information on using the nicotine replacement therapy.

Once referred to the Southern Stop Smoking service, parents or whānau are contacted by the service within 24-48 hours of referral being received to offer ongoing support, advice, education and NRT.

Dunedin Hospital recycling trailblazersRecycling trailblazers at Dunedin Hospital have been praised for helping lead the way across New Zealand and Australia.

Dunedin was an early adopter of a recycling project by Baxter Healthcare. The project which has now signed up 100 hospitals turns recycled PVC medical supplies into playground matting.

Baxter Healthcare's innovative trans-Tasman sustainability programme diverts about 10 metric tonnes of medical waste from landfill to recycling each month.

Dunedin was acknowledged as a recycling pioneer as Baxter marked the 100-hospital milestone. “Dunedin was one of our first hospitals to join the programme and have been great advocates for it since the launch," a Baxter spokeswoman said.

A pilot in Dunedin Hospital was so well received it was quickly expanded and there are now 14 areas that recycle PVC. The PVC items include oxygen masks, oxygen tubing and IV fluid bags and IV irrigation bags.

The success of the scheme has been made possible by enthusiastic staff including orderlies and champions in each area who have led the way with the pilot scheme – and to those whose energy has kept it rolling.

Since 2014 Dunedin Hospital has diverted more than five tonnes of PVC from landfill to recycling.

Alex McBain, Registered Nurse and Nic Holborow Associate Charge Nurse Manager, Dunedin Hospital Emergency Department with the NRT packs.

For more information and help to stop smoking go to Smokefree South Facebook page: www.fb.com/SmokeFreeSouth/

Commissioner’s Public Forum and Advisory Committee Meetings - Open to the Public - Members of the public are welcome to attend the following public forum and advisory committee meetings, to be held in the Board Room, Level 2, West Wing, Main Block, Wakari Hospital campus, 371 Taieri Road, Dunedin, on Thursday, 23 November 2017, or view them by videolink from the Board Room, Community Services Building, Southland Hospital campus, Invercargill.

• Public Forum: 9.00 am

• Hospital Advisory Committee (HAC): 9.30 am

• Joint meeting of the Disability Support Advisory Committee and Community & Public Health Advisory Committee (DSAC/CPHAC) - To commence at the conclusion of the HAC meeting.

Agendas and associated reports for the advisory committee meetings can be downloaded from the DHB website 48 hours prior to the meetings.

PublicForum: To register your interest in speaking at the public forum please complete the form on our website www.southerndhb.govt.nz or contact the Board Secretary, [email protected], phone (03) 476 9443

Commissioner’s UpdateFrom Kathy Grant

Viv Allen-Kelly sorts through PVC medical products before they are sent off to be recycled

Southern DHB has again hit the road for public engagement sessions, providing an update on the future of primary maternity services in the district and giving stakeholders another chance to have their say.

Final details of the kinds and configuration of services are still to come but the recent gatherings in Winton, Dunedin, Oamaru and Cromwell heard that the Southern DHB strongly supports a community-based network of primary maternity care providers, midwifery-led services and the promotion of birthing in the primary maternity setting for well women with normal pregnancies.

“Primary maternity services need to be better integrated across the district, flexible in their approach and more closely linked to community and primary care services in general. A primary maternity system of care is focused on family-centred care and helping to ensure that women in this district have access to safe, high-quality services that provide mothers and families with the support they need. This approach gives babies the best start in life,” says Dr Marion Poore, Southern DHB, Medical Director of Women’s Children’s and Public Health services. “It is important that new technologies and ways of working are incorporated into an effective primary maternity system of care so that good outcomes are realised.”

Lisa Gestro, Executive Director, Strategy Primary and Community Directorate said primary maternity is an important component of the southern health system: “What we’ve heard is that we are on the right track, that safe and accessible primary maternity care is fundamental to any primary community healthcare plan. We’ve appreciated this opportunity of sharing this proposal with our communities and hearing their views.”

This round of public engagement meetings follows the Southern DHB’s Primary Maternity Project consultations undertaken in 2016.

Feedback from the community meetings will be incorporated into a final proposal, which will be put to Southern DHB executive and commissioners for consideration, with an anticipated start to a primary maternity programme of work in early 2018.

Providing the best start in life

It seems to be the time of year when activity accelerates so we can finish the year with a great sense of accomplishment.

We were p leased to announce the winners of the Southern Innovation Cha l lenge, and make

investments to bring the ideas of our clever and talented staff to life. These include proposals from enabling patients to receive chemotherapy treatment at home to a system that could make hospital lighting seem more natural.

The urology megaclinics are planned to clear the backlog of patients overdue for appointments and procedures in that service by the end of the year, and we are enormously appreciative of the hard work of all staff involved, and the support of our colleagues from around the country in enabling this.

And work is continuing on our Primary and Community Action plan. We appreciated the feedback from the community and ideas raised during our public meetings, and look forward to sharing the final version with you early in the New Year, and updating you on progress as the plan is implemented.

Meanwhile, the rebuild planning continues, and the issue that has captured the imaginations of the public recently has related to the prospect of a Ronald McDonald House being considered as part of this process. We have received numerous queries about this, and it may be helpful to clarify a few points.

The importance of accommodation and support for families and whanau during the stressful experience of having an ill child is certainly recognised, and provision of whānau and family facilities will be fully considered as a part of the development of models of care associated with the Dunedin Hospital rebuild.

There are a range of possible scenarios this can take, from working with a private provider to building our own facilities with potential opportunities for naming rights sponsorships. Any option would raise different questions for us to consider as an organisation.

Southern DHB has not received, or rejected, any proposals from any charities or sponsors in relation to the hospital rebuild. We are always pleased to work with partners in the interests of our community. Ronald McDonald charities support a family room at our Southland Hospital and the Lakes District Hospital Foundation recently welcomed an $80,000 donation for a whānau room at Lakes District Hospital from the Adept Mactodd Trust.

We have asked the Clinical Leadership Group associated with the rebuild planning, and the Community Health Council, to provide us with collective advice firstly on the importance of having whānau and family spaces within or nearby the new hospital, as well as the pros and cons of external funding sources and association with other parties which will include Ronald McDonald charities as well as potentially other charitable organisations.

Finally, please remember you are welcome to attend the public session of the Commissioner meeting on Thursday 23 November. Please see the notice on this page for details.