Te Hanga Whaioranga Mo Te Iwi - Building Healthy Communities
Hamilton Residential Trust
May Newsletter
Issue 2 - November 2011
Jeff Bennett - Group Manager, Mental Health & Addictions Service
November marks an important time for the change programme. We've asked our staff to share their thoughts about our proposed plans for an improved integrated service. This involves using their feedback to make sure we get it right.
As with any change proposal, staff can provide us with a view of how things might work from their perspective, to make sure we haven't left anything out.
We' ve spent a long time developing the plans so this is an opportunity to test them before moving ahead. The great German chess player Emanuel Lasker once said, "When you see a good move, look for a better one", which I think we can identify with in this situation.
We hosted a community forum in August that involved primary, community and secondary service representatives. This was a perfect example of what can be achieved when people come together to achieve a shared vision.
The day proved there is a desire to work together for the benefit of service users and we must now start taking positive steps towards achieving our objective “to be the service people trust with their loved one's care.
Rees (Tapsell) and I hope you share our optimism as we look forward to what lies ahead for the Mental Health and Addictions Service as we work towards achieving better outcomes for all service users.
Home Based Treatment launched in Waikato
In August, Waikato DHB launched a new Home Based Treatment (HBT) service, which provides an alternative for people over the age of 18 who would normally be considered for admission to the Henry Bennett Rongomau Centre.
This team operates by providing treatment in a service user’s own home and supports family and/or friends to remain actively involved as part of the treatment and support plan. In situations where it is not practical to consider HBT in a service users own home, respite services may be used to provide this service.
HBT will be provided by clinicians or support workers visiting up to three times per day. Generally, it is not expected that HBT will last longer than three weeks for any one service user. However, the service may vary from person to person, depending on the individual treatment plan that is developed for each person.
The HBT service is designed at this stage to prevent admissions to hospital rather than to assist with an early discharge. However, this may change as the service develops in the future.
A feature of the service is that it is being delivered in Hamilton and Thames in partnership with Pathways Health. Mental Health and Addictions Service provide clinical services with support from Pathways.
Leading the team is Patrick Johnston and associate Chris Huxtable. Patrick and Chris are charge nurse managers for the crisis assessment and treatment team (CATT) and have plenty of experience working with people in the community.
HBT currently has capacity to work with service users who are at least 18 years old who qualify to receive the treatment so please feel free to contact them on 0800 774433 to discuss a referral.
HBT is provided between 8am-8pm every day. Outside of these hours, the service can be accessed by ringing the Mental Health line (0800 50 50 50) who will page the on call clinician provided by the CATT service.
The plan is that once the service has been established in Hamilton and Thames, it will be extended, once the staff teams are in place, to include southern Waikato.
Current Changes
Mental Health and Addictions Service staff have the opportunity throughout November to share their thoughts about the upcoming changes.
The focus of improvements are about having a clear and consistent entry into the service, a more joined up service across in-patient and community, and developing stronger relationships with primary and other organisations.
We encourage people to visit www.waikatodhb.health.nz/changeandperformance and use the dedicated email address sean.budd "at" waikatodhb.health.nz to ask any questions or raise any issues that you feel are relevant at this time.
We are committed to being clear about the changes and how they will affect service users and their family/ whanau.
Waikato DHB Provider Arm – A Time For Change
In May 2011 we began a series of improvements that are focused on building a sustainable, relevant, and adaptable Mental Health & Addictions Service. The priority for every change is about ensuring that the needs of service users comes first and that our services lead to an equal outcome for all who need them.
The first initiatives were about preparing the service for more complex changes to come. This web page is an example of these, as it provides a way for you to interact with the service and let us know what you think about the changes as they happen.
Other changes are about establishing solid working relationships with primary health service providers whose involvement is crucial to making the changes to our service work. Without their involvement the aim of providing a better service user journey would not be possible.
We have established an initiative with the Midland Health Network who provide primary health care to nearly 500,000 people in the central North Island regions of the East Coast, Coromandel, Waikato, Taupo, King Country and Taranaki. They provide the professional health care you receive in your community, usually from your General Practitioner (GP) or Practice Nurse. We will begin providing telephone support for GPs in November.
The improved relationship with primary care means a better outcome for service users due to a more continuous recovery journey. There will be less risk of people becoming isolated once they leave the inpatient services and as Midland Health Network operates outside of Waikato, there will be more support available to people who are worried about travelling outside of Waikato.
As we are beginning the journey towards an improved service, we are focused on getting our own processes in order before we move on to the more noticeable changes. Over the next two years there will be a significant amount of effort going on within the service to ensure we get it right this time so that the changes are meaningful. To keep up to date please sign up to our e-newsletter and let us know how we’re going by sending us an email or by attending a meeting.
Takarangi Phase 1 Workshop - Round Two for the Waikato District
The Waikato district was the last of the Midland DHB area's to receive the second round of the Phase 1 roll outs of Takarangi Core Competency workshops. This was held on the outskirts of Hamilton at Hukanui Marae in Gordonton on the 24 & 25 August.
Approximately 23 attendees participated in this workshop with both NGO & Provider Arm staff alongwith participants from a National Workforce Centre - Te Pou.
Hot Hula is the new exercise craze making its way to the Midland region.
On the 14 July in Tokoroa at the South Waikato Pacific Island Community Services the developer of Hot Hula, Anna-Rita Sloss and her team gave a demonstration to the small community of Tokoroa.
Young and old who were there partook in the demonstration and got one hell of a workout (I certainly did). Hot Hula incorporates a mixture of pacific island movements from Cook Island, Samoan and other pacific cultures to give you a full workout. Anna uses both traditional pacific music such as drum beats and also shows how modern music can be incorporated with the movements.
During the month of August "Hot Hula" will be promoted in the Midland region with a three day facilitator training that will take place during the month of September. If you are interested in becoming a facilator and support your local communities by keeping active, please contact Akatu Marsters who will add you to the distribution list and keep you informed as more information comes to light.
If you would like to learn more about Hot Hula please visit Anna-Rita's website. Please click here otherwise visit http://www.anna-rita.com/
South Waikato Pacific Island Community Services (SWPICS) - Care for their Elders in the Community
It's a blessing being amongst older people but more so when they are enthusiastic about their morning exercises.
The SWPICS workers are behind their elders ensuring they are kept phyiscally motivated. Charlie (pictured below) and his team bring together the elders in their community four times a week and do low impact workouts to a range of pacific island music. Normally their classes a packed, the pictures below show only half the number that attend these daily exercises.
Keep up the good work SWPICS!!
Charlie - Instructor
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