Chair’s Report
SIMON WYNN-THOMAS, CHAIR
PEGASUS HEALTH CLINICAL BOARD
From L-R: Dr Ramon Pink; Dr Susan Gordan; Dr Simon Wynn Thomas (Chair); Fiona Blair-Heslop; Sue Price; Dr Ben Hudson; Jacqui Lawson.
Building on the outcomes of its performance appraisal, the Clinical Board has had a productive and effective year. The revision of our terms of reference has emphasised the opportunities for the Board to lead for clinical excellence. The format of the agenda for our monthly meetings has also been changed to allow greater time for the Board to be more proactive in influencing the health outcomes of Cantabrians.
This year, the Clinical Board has been briefed on the successful outcomes of last year's focus on childhood obesity.
Our focus for the 2016-17 year, in conjunction with the Community Board, will be on mental health. One particular aspect of mental health that has been of concern to the Clinical Board is the fact that mental health consumers have poor physical health outcomes. This is a complex problem with no easy solution but this topic will form the focus of the next joint Clinical/Community Board meeting. It is hoped that this will lead to some strong work in this field.
Over the last year, the Clinical Board has reviewed a number of important documents – the Hauora Māori Health Plan; the Whanau Ora approach to wellbeing; the Supporting Vulnerable Children Policy; Pegasus Health’s Child Protection Policy; primary health care reports; and PHO improvement indicators. The common denominator of all these pieces of work is the sobering reality that health outcomes for Māori remain unequal to non-Māori. As always, this fact remains at the heart of our work and central to all the decisions we make.
Lynley Cook, Pegasus Health's Public Health Specialist, has once again worked immensely hard on behalf of the Clinical Board and we would like to thank her very much for all that she does for us.
The Clinical Board would be ineffective if it wasn't for the support given by Pegasus Health's administrative staff. Helen Rogers, our administrator, has retired this year. We would like to thank her for her hard work and wish her well for her retirement.