Refreshed Alliance Leadership Team announced
Southern DHB and WellSouth PHO are reinvigorating the work of Alliance South, the alliance between the two organisations, with the establishment of a new Alliance Leadership Team.
The leadership team will support the roll-out of the Primary and Community Strategy and promote better integration of health services with the aim of improving the health and well-being of people and communities across the district.
Led by chair General Practitioner Dr Carol Atmore, the new Alliance Leadership Team (ALT) includes Gore pharmacist Bernie McKone, Wanaka GP Dr Andrew McLeod, Dunstan Hospital nursing director Debi Lawry, Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks, Bronnie Grant from the Community Health Council, Associate Professor Joanne Baxter, a public health physician leading Māori health research from the Dunedin School of Medicine, and youth mental health and addictions specialist Clive McArthur.
Southern DHB Chief Executive Chris Fleming, Clinical Leader for Dunedin for Paediatrics and Child Health Dr Liza Edmonds and Dr Hywel Lloyd, Medical Director, Strategy, Primary and Community, are the Southern DHB members of ALT while WellSouth Chief Executive Ian Macara and Director of Nursing Primary Care Wendy Findlay, represent the primary health network.
A Māori health representative will also be appointed to the leadership team in the coming weeks.
The Alliance Leadership Team will oversee the work of Alliance South in implementing the Primary and Community Care Strategy and help monitor and measure success according to Ministry of Health System Level Measures Framework.
"I am excited to be part of the new Southern Alliance,” says Bernie McKone, of Quins Unichem Pharmacy. “The Alliance can help enable a strong integration of the primary health workforce to ensure patients in Southern get quality healthcare closer to home and in a timely way.”
Dr Atmore says the new ALT is a great opportunity to better integrate health services across the region. The goal is to improve health outcomes and equity for people who live in the Southern region – especially for Māori – through a more coordinated Southern Health System: “It’s all about improving people’s health and sense of wellbeing.”
Healthcare alliances were established in all health districts across the country in 2013 to help DHBs and primary health organisations better work together. Alliances promote taking a 'one health system' view, building trust and confidence between health professionals working in different parts of the health system.
“The Alliance Leadership Team brings expertise from across the health sector. By working together the team will make a substantive contribution, supporting change for the better in the Southern district,” says Chris Fleming, Chief Executive, Southern DHB.