Canterbury’s Community services are undergoing a redesign to make sure they are best satisfying the needs of Cantabrians.
More than 70 people from across community services attended a workshop last Friday to provide input into the redesign.
Held at The Design Lab, the workshop brought together a wide range of perspectives to discuss the vision for community services.
Chair of the Community Services Service Level Alliance, Donna Hahn said it was an important opportunity to take time out and think about the future.
“In Canterbury community service providers have worked together in an alliancing approach to provide flexible, integrated and responsive community services that help people to live safely within their own homes and communities."
“This successful way of working has contributed to a reduction in aged residential care admissions and shorter hospital stays for older Cantabrians, ultimately helping people to stay in their own homes for longer."
“But with increasing demand for community services as our population ages and we provide more care at home, it’s time to pause for a moment and consider how we can redesign the model to make sure we’re providing the best care for people. We wanted to hear from those providing or impacted by Canterbury’s community services about what they feel are the emerging areas of concern and opportunities for improvement.”
Attendees included community service providers, consumers and consumer advocacy organisations, pharmacy, primary and secondary care nursing services, mental health providers, paramedics, allied health, Māori health providers, general practice and non-government organisations.
Workshop participants heard from Canterbury District Health Board Chief Executive Officer, David Meates and Nursing Director Kate Gibb on the journey of community services so far and the future focus on a restorative model.
Consumers and rural providers participated in an ‘on the couch’ session where they shared what is important to them when a health professional comes into their home, what rural communities do differently to ensure equity of access to community services and what they think is important when designing community services. Participants then joined in a ‘world café’ session to discuss what future services they would start, stop, or organise differently.
The results of the workshop will inform a smaller design group which will make recommendations on the redesign of community services in Canterbury.
Click here to read the reflections document from the day