News and Notices

Welcome to Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand, Nelson Marlborough


As part of the Government’s changes to health services, all District Health Boards are now part of one united entity.

It’s important to note that healthcare won’t change immediately – when people need care, they will still go to the same providers and the same hospital that they do now. 

 

District and regional leadership

Over the next two years Te Whatu Ora will be putting in place the operating models and accountability structures that will deliver on the New Zealand Health Plan, ensuring safe service delivery and sustainability of our system for the future. 

The first six months of transition will unify reporting lines for functions and see the completion of permanent leadership appointments in national and regional functions.

Under the new system, the country has been split into four health regions – Northern, Te Manawa Taki, Central, and Te Waipounamu. Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority will work together at a regional level, including through co-located teams and embedded regional management arrangements.

Each of these health regions will have two distinct arms: 

  1. Commissioning primary and community services 
  2. Managing the delivery of health services 

 

Interim regional and district directors will be in place from 1 July. They will guide and unify local healthcare teams to work together for the benefit of our patients, whānau and communities while a regional management board is established, and national structures are recruited and embedded. 

As well as the interim District Director, Nelson Marlborough, Lexie O’Shea, we will have an interim Regional Director, Te Waipounamu, Peter Bramley, who will support the area. Under these arrangements, delegations for decision making are in many cases the same as for the former chief executives and Boards.

 

Community engagement, collaboration and local partnerships

The aim of transforming the health system is to create a more equitable, accessible, cohesive and people-centred system to improve the health and wellbeing of all people of Aotearoa.

Locality partnerships will be a key part of the new system.

Other ongoing local partnerships, engagement and ways of working together are incredibly important and will remain so. These include: 

  • Local, regional, and national consumer networks, advisory groups, focus groups, and co-design groups. 
  • Independent health and disability advocates who help consumers understand their rights and raise complaints on behalf of individuals.
  • Existing national consumer and advocacy groups and organisations.

Current consumer councils will continue to operate in the interim as we consider their future as part of the wider Health New Zealand operating model. 

In addition, the following governance and engagement mechanisms will be in place: 

  • Establishment of Iwi Māori Partnership Boards to identify whānau aspirations and ensure these are reflected in agreed locality priorities and plans.  
  • The development of a definition and position statement for ‘whānau voice’ led by the Māori Health Authority and through engagement with Māori communities.  
  • Locality Charters which will describe how localities will involve consumers and whānau in the development of local priorities. 

 

You can find the new Te Whatu Ora site here and the new Te Aka Whai Ora site here.