Mahitahi Hauora Annual Report 20222023 FINAL v17 - Flipbook - Page 10
Mahitahi Hauora Annual Report - 2022/2023
Tō mātou hikoi
i tenei tau
Our journey this year
Much of the groundwork
for the health reforms
was completed last year
and so this year has been
a period of consolidation
for the Mahitahi team.
We have focused on providing
creative, practical solutions
to the more complex issues
and challenges facing primary
healthcare. Through this focus,
we have seen the development
of some important and impactful
work.
Our ground-breaking Clinical
Hub continues to provide a
comprehensive response to
COVID-19 in the region. This
includes registering and assessing
new cases, providing immediate
clinical care, and prescribing
anti-viral medication to those
most at risk of serious illness from
their infection. The service is free
and available 7 days a week for
anyone living in Northland.
Alongside its COVID-19 response
work, the Hub provides virtual
consulting services in response
to the chronic shortfall in doctors
and nurses. This ensures the
continuation of patient care,
especially in remote rural areas.
The Hub also delivers inbox and
10.
recall management services
on-demand to general practices.
These alleviate the huge
administrative load on primary
healthcare providers, which frees
them up to focus on their patients.
While most people are enrolled
with a primary healthcare
provider in the region, some can’t
or don’t want to enrol. Being
unenrolled means they cannot
receive follow-up care at home
in their community if they have to
attend a hospital. This excludes
them from a range of services,
like access to a pharmacy, and
often leads to a return to the
hospital. The Clinical Hub team
help these patients to get enrolled
and coordinates any immediate
primary health and social care
needs in the meantime. The
service is free to the patient and
centred entirely on their speci昀椀c
needs and circumstances. It
provides comprehensive wraparound support for anyone who
isn’t or cannot get enrolled
- and greatly reduces hospital
admissions.
Our Primary Mental Health
services have continued to
grow and adapt to ensure
maximum bene昀椀t to whānau as
they navigate rapidly changing
circumstances.
The health reforms have evolved
largely in ways that we had
anticipated, for example with the
introduction of the ‘Localities’
approach to organising health
and social care delivery. These
enable whānau within their own
communities to determine what
health and social support they
need to improve and maintain
their health and well-being. It’s
the 昀椀rst time truly local voices
have been heard when planning
and evaluating healthcare in
Aotearoa. We have been at
the cutting edge of this new
approach through our work with
the Taikorihi Locality, where we
have prototyped new ways of
working collaboratively. This
has enabled funds, knowledge,
skills and services to flow into
the communities that most need
them. We hope to continue our
work with Taikorihi and to share
our ground-breaking approach
with other Localities in the region,
and beyond.
Our Equity for Whānau Agreement
is in its second year and is leading
the way nationally. We are proud
of this initiative which helps those
most in need and contributes
to the dif昀椀cult work of trying to
repair the devastating legacies of
colonisation.