eSpace Programme
The eSpace Programme - which has a long-
term goal of regionalising (covering the five
Midland DHBs) IT systems, clinical workflows,
standards and processes – was signed off. The
regional clinical portal will be known as the
Midland Clinical Portal.
Fifth year medical students
A new Regional-Rural Programme featuring
fifth year University of Auckland medical
students was launched in January 2017. The
students spend nearly three months at
Whakatāne Hospital and the balance of the
year at Tauranga Hospital’s Bay of Plenty
Clinical School. A total of 58 medical students
are involved: 24 fourth year, 18 fifth year and
16 sixth year. This is the first time the
BOPDHB has had medical students from all
three clinical training years for the full
academic year.
Inaugural Nursing Honours Student
An example of one person’s story showcasing
broader good work is that of Leigh Youngman,
our first nurse to complete the BOPDHB
Nursing Honours programme in conjunction
with the University of Auckland. Leigh focused
her research on the management of delirium
in orthopaedic patients and was supported by
her service to spend time with the Service
Improvement Unit whilst working on a Quality
Improvement (QI) project. Leigh also received
an emerging young leader award from the
Health Quality & Safety Commission.
Allied Health
Our Allied Health Service has been established
as a defined and identifiable entity within the
organisation, providing the platform to
further enhance how it can contribute to
service delivery in line with the Strategic
Health Services Plan.
Facilities
Our Property Services team continue to
ensure our wonderful facilities remain safe for
our patients and staff.
Unions
The ongoing strength of our relationship with
our staff unions continues to be something to
be celebrated. It is very important to us, and
is a relationship which is recognised amongst
DHBs in New Zealand.
Financials
As ever we operate in a financially
constrained environment and it has been a
tough year, but we are pleased with how it
has been navigated.
Health Targets
The Ministry of Health’s quarterly Health
Targets are many people’s way of measuring a
DHB’s performance. Whilst the health system
is far too complex to judge solely on results
against six selected targets, they remain a
great tool for focusing attention on specific
areas. It’s pleasing to see a significant
improvement in our results this year. At the
time of writing we are surpassing three of six
targets and are on course for five to be met.
One of the most high profile targets is Shorter
Stays in Emergency Departments (ED) and our
success in achieving that reveals some
important characteristics of our staff and
culture. We have been working on our
systems within ED and APU (Admissions
Planning Unit); areas where efficiencies can
be made and new methodologies introduced.
The success comes down to the willingness of
our people to be engaged in change. We are
only able to make progress because we have
staff who are willing to engage, to push
boundaries, and have a passion to make a
difference for the communities we serve.
Another quality the Shorter Stays target
achievement highlighted, was that of selfless
service. When people were individually
praised for their contribution the phrase
which came out repeatedly was “all I did
was…”.
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