Community Health Council
Key Messagesof the Meeting heldThursday 4 May 2017

  1. The issue of mental health and addiction service availability was discussed by the Community Health Council (CHC) as a matter of great concern to our whānau and communities in the Southern district. There is awareness among the CHC members of significant pressures on mental health and addiction services, and concerns were raised about unacceptably long waiting times for youth, and others, to be able to access needed services. The CHC appreciates the complex nature of mental health services e.g. the lack of integration between community and hospital services, pressure on inpatient services, and the workload experienced by staff working in the Southern district’s mental health and addictionsservices – but the costs to our whanau / families of inadequate services are being felt acutely. The CHC plan to invite some key people working in mental health and addictions services to discuss these services with us andprovide a more detailed insight. The RAISE HOPE: Hāpaia te Tūmanako Strategic Plan is being circulated to all CHC members.
  2. A Youth Hui is being held in Dunedin on the 4 May 2017. Takiwai Russell-Camp will feed back to the CHC health issues raised at this hui. Bronnie Grant and others discussed the importance of linking with youth throughout the Southern district and this be investigated further at future meetings.
  3. The Patient Complaint processes for the DHB and PHO were discussed again. This item will remain on our CHC action list. The importance of identifying key themes in the complaints/feedback received was discussed – so that actions could be taken to address any regular reoccurring issues. It was suggested that the CHC could be involved in developing training videos for staff and patients about complaints. And it was noted that having a consistent complaints process throughout the system – regardless of services being provided in the community, GP clinics or hospital was important – because often patients/whānau can identify areas for improvement that span across the healthsystem.

Ian Macara (CE WellSouthPHN) and Nigel Millar (Chief Medical Officer, Southern DHB) both supported the call for such consistency. Bronnie Grant and Sarah Derrett are going to prepare a proposal on behalf of the CHC of how the complaints process could operate across the system (DHB and PHO) to improve the information, support and accessibility of information about complaints (and feedback more generally) for patients and whānau.

  1. Russell MacPherson updated the CHC on the working group that is developing a Consumer Engagement Guidance document for health professionals. The group have developed a draft outline of principles that will guide this document and are now focusing on how this will work operationally.
  2. Nicola Mutch (Director of Communications, Southern DHB) provided an overview of communications, and met with the CHC one-website working group members (Takiwai Russell-Camp, Martin Burke and Paula Waby) who will work with the communications team as the new website for the Southern health district is developed.
  3. CHC members were informed that Patient Story videos will be piloted on CHC members before being shown to other staff members. And plans are underway for CHC member stories to be recorded also.
  1. A working group has been formed to work with others in the Southern district to develop a Disability Action Plan (Paula Waby – lead, Martin Burke and Sarah Derrett).
  2. At the June meeting the CHCplan to hear from experts about the Treaty of Waitangi and its rolein our Southern district.

Next meeting: Thursday 1 June 2017

If you are interested in finding out more about the Community Health Council please visit the Southern DHB website or email