The work of the Ashburton Service Level Alliance (Ashburton SLA) to support sustainable transformation of the community’s health services continues to progress well.
Anna Dalzell has taken on facilitation of the SLA following the departure of Craig Watson. Anna currently lives in Coalgate where she runs a family farm with her husband. The former school teacher and volunteer ambulance officer has worked as a programme coordinator/facilitator in the area of mental health patient advocacy and peer support. She is also a Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP) Practitioner and has done numerous trainings in communication, motivation and facilitating change.
Anna’s rural and community background provides a strong platform for understanding the challenges of providing integrated care and support for a population such as Ashburton. She describes herself as someone who, has a strong empathy for people from all walks of life, with a positive and active attitude towards improving outcomes for people.
“I’m looking forward to supporting the Ashburton SLA to maintain the work and momentum they’ve achieved and to take their important health initiatives through to meaningful and constructive outcomes.”
An Afterhours Workgroup (AHWG) responsible for making recommendations on a workable, sustainable model of afterhours care is now established. The SLA also recognised the importance of including a consumer perspective in all activities going forward to ensure the voice of the patient is heard. The SLA’s consumer perspective, Kerry Maw was nominated and accepted to also provide a consumer perspective to the Afterhours Workgroup.
The SLA is also currently considering ways to engage more widely with the community as a whole.
Part of the Canterbury Clinical Network, the Ashburton SLA is responsible for recommending how to best allocate health services funding in Ashburton to ensure the community has access to the most appropriate and sustainable health services.