Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood.
A health system where everyone's voices are heard, where patients don't fall through the cracks and people are cared for in one seamless process.
These are the characteristics of healthcare "at its best", says outgoing Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood.
They are also the "massive" opportunities Saville-Woodsees in the creation of new national entity Health New Zealand at the end of the month.
"There is the ability within the change to address some of the issues we were grappling with under the DHB environment and equity is one of the big ones," Saville-Wood told the Rotorua Daily Post.
"In the new [entity] it won't matter where you go, you are going to be treated the same.
"We will be much more connected. When a patient wants something they won't be sent away, have to wait for six months and then come back again."
Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood will support staff through the change to Health New Zealand over the next three months. Photo / Andrew Warner
Saville-Wood said a strong focus on primary and community care would help the new entity "get ahead of the curve" by focusing on prevention as well as the cure.
"Health only addresses 20 per cent of a person's overall wellbeing.
But the transition to this ideal way of working won't happen overnight.
In Saville-Wood's view, the most pressing issue facing the new entity will be its workforce.
"One part of it is if you don't have enough people you put your staff into conditions where they are operating with a health and safety problem.
"The other part is you can't deliver services to patients because you don't have the ability to do it."
Saville-Wood said midwives, nurses and specialist areas such as mental health were recruitment areas of concern.
"We are one of the better rohe in the country in terms of number of births to midwives but that doesn't mean we haven't got vacancies and serious concerns there.
"Nursing needs have increased substantially with volume increases so it will be important to get a pipeline through and getting more workforce in there.
"Then your specialist areas are always of concern because without the necessary, well-trained workforce you will struggle to meet the standard of care."
Minister of Health Andrew Little announced the major health reforms on April 2021. Photo / NZME
Saville-Wood said giving local, community and regional voices a strong place at the centre of Health New Zealand was "vital".
He said community voices would have a chance to be heard via new bodies called Localities.
"There will be between 60 and 80 Localities across the country. We have currently got one in our southern rohe."
Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards and Consumer Councils would also provide opportunities for local residents to express their needs and concerns.
Saville-Wood said change was always unsettling for everybody but when Health New Zealand began its work on July 1 locals would not feel an earthquake.
"Overall services will be as they currently are."
Saville-Wood said patients would still be able to go to the same doctors, health centres and hospitals as they have always done.
"The Pae Ora bill has indicated that all staff will transfer across on July 1 on the same terms and conditions.
"Moving into one entity means we are all working for exactly the same organisation serving one community.
"It will be a mindset change for staff that they are part of a bigger team.
"The only exception to that of course is the chief executives and the members of the boards that are being made defunct."
Nick Saville-Wood officially became chief executive of the DHB in May 2019. Photo / Stephen Parker
Saville-Wood himself has accepted a three-month offer to extend his role.
"Change can affect different people in different ways and I want to support the staff through that."
Looking back, Saville-Wood said he was proudest of the staff and the culture of the Lakes District Health Board.
"Culture takes time and this job is about relationships. It is about ensuring all the major players providing health services and all of the communities have their voices heard and building trust to get the job done.
"We have managed to get things done that needed to be done for the community."
When he had started as chief executive informally at the end of 2018 and formally in May 2019, Saville-Wood remembered thinking there was so much to do.
"We haven't got time to do it all. Equity and integration were things I wanted to focus on as much as possible."
At the end of his three-month role extension, Saville-Wood said he hadn't thought of what he would do.
"I think I am going to go on a bit of a holiday at the end of it all and catch my breath and think about where I want to go.
