Back L-R: Robyn Wallace, Tanya McCall, Peter Laloli, Michael Aitken, Peter Townsend.
Front L-R: Natu Rama, Wendy Dallas-Katoa, Andrew Hornblow (Chair), Helen Lockett, Rob Earle.
Chair's Report
ANDREW HORNBLOW, CHAIR
PEGASUS HEALTH COMMUNITY BOARD
The Community Board’s second year has been a busy and challenging one as we continue towards our goal of improving health outcomes for our community. Based on strong information and presentations from key people from across the health sector, the Community Board was in a good position to move to a more proactive approach to achieve this goal. The Board took a collaborative approach in working with others, while ensuring its objectives and work programme were aligned with those of Pegasus Health, Pegasus’ Clinical Board and the Canterbury Clinical Network.
Continuing with our focus on children and youth, the Community Board endorsed a number of initiatives involving children and youth. These included:
Oral health: The Board recognised that education in schools is a key to achieving better oral health for children but also that fluoridation will assist, particularly in terms of equity of outcomes for vulnerable children. A considered and collaborative approach is required to meet this challenge.
Mental health: The Community Board endorsed a number of different workstreams, including Equally Well. It also supported a range of initiatives such as education/training for General Practitioners and nurses in skills to identify and manage childhood behavioural problems.
Access to primary care health services: The Board’s proposal to the Pegasus Health Board to recruit an additional Child Health Coordinator to support the existing role was endorsed and we are pleased to advise, that at the time of writing this report, the appointment of the new Coordinator was imminent.
A healthy start: The Board supported continued promotion of parenting programmes through HealthPathways and HealthInfo. It was also pleased to see a significant improvement in the number of B4 School Checks completed and issues followed up.
Child obesity: Addressing child obesity is a major challenge and a multi-faceted approach is required, given the significant impact on children’s current and future health and the impact on health services. The Community Board endorsed the Child Obesity Action Plan which proposed a number of approaches including that we:
- advocate on issues associated with childhood obesity;
- collaborate with the Canterbury Clinical Network’s Child and Youth Workstream to ensure mechanisms are in place for the identification, referral and treatment of children who are overweight or obese;
- develop a schedule of education sessions for primary care clinicians on nutrition, physical activity and brief interventions; and
- promote brief interventions to support positive behavioural change in General Practice.
We are pleased to advise that progress is being made towards addressing this issue. A joint working group has been formed with the Clinical Board to identify key areas of action.
Advocacy: During the year, the Board endorsed the formalised advocacy areas and collaborations to which Pegasus Health is a signatory including Smokefree Aotearoa 2025, Canterbury Family Violence Collaboration and Healthy Christchurch. We also supported Pegasus Health working towards becoming a signatory of the Child Friendly Cities programme in Christchurch. In addition, submissions were put forward to:
- Christchurch City Council, endorsing the Psychoactive Products Retail Locations Policy, subject to expanding it so that retail premises were not situated close to sensitive sites. We are pleased to report our submission was reflected in the final policy adopted by Council.
- The Productivity Commission’s proposal for More Effective Social Services.
Another major issue considered by the Community Board was the Vulnerable Children’s Act 2014 and its implications for everyone working with children. We were pleased to endorse Pegasus’ involvement in the Canterbury Children’s Team, formed to provide oversight of the Children’s Action Plan.
Five members of the Board, nominated from across the Canterbury community, bring to our discussions a wealth of experience, wide networks and decades of committed community service. The Chairs of the three reference groups, as Board members, help us take into account the goals of our Māori, Pacific, and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) populations to improve the health of these communities. During the year we welcomed Robyn Wallace from the Māori Health Advisory Group Te Kāhui o Papaki Kā Tai as a member.
To all Board members, a sincere thank you for your commitment, which is moving us from aspiration to action. On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend our gratitude to all Pegasus staff who work with us. Thank you for your excellent reports and presentations; for imparting your knowledge of the health sector and the wider community; and for your strong and ongoing administrative support.
Our key purpose is “To ensure that influential recommendations from a community perspective are made to the Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd’s Board in order that the best possible decisions on health and primary/community-based health care are made to improve health outcomes”.
The Community Board looks forward to another year representing our community and advocating for its interests at regional and national levels.