New Zealand

Australasia and the Far East

New Zealand

Trends that are expected to impact on the health and disability sector in New Zealand: outcomes and goals that will contribute to health and independence in 2010

The success of New Zealand’s health and disability sector will depend on its ability to respond to pressures for change and on how well it responds to opportunities to deliver services in new ways.

The key objective is an improvement in the health, well-being and independence of New Zealanders. The goals generated through Foresight to achieve that objective are:

• Goal 1: healthy and independent individuals and populations –prevention of death, disease and disability, and effective promotion,protection, restoration and maintenance of New Zealanders’ health and independence;

• Goal 2: Effective health care – effective delivery of health care and technology assessment based on rigorous, culturally safe and ethical research;

• Goal 3: Equitable health outcomes – contributing to well-being,equity and inclusiveness for all New Zealanders, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations;

• Goal 4: Maori development – recognising the value of building on existing support and momentum of Maori to address Maori health concerns as expressed by Maori;

• Goal 5: Intersectoral action goal – strong collaboration within and across sectors and communities, and between health funders, health providers, policy-makers and researchers to address the social, cultural and economic determinants of health and well-being;

• Goal 6: Health’s contribution to society and economy – to recognise people’s health as critical to future social and economic prosperity;

• Goal 7: Healthy environments – enhancing and protecting New Zealand’s environment and natural resources and creating communities and workplaces which enhance health and independence; and

• Goal 8: Innovation and technology – development and application of new technologies relevant to health, within appropriate ethical and regulatory frameworks.

Strong co-operative efforts and intersectoral collaboration will be needed to underpin the achievement of these goals. The first three goals –healthy and independent people, effective health care and equitable health outcomes – cover the areas traditionally seen as the responsibility of the health sector. Nonetheless, their achievement will also require strong convergence between health and other sectors.

Conclusion

Successful change requires sustainability, flexibility, responsiveness and innovation. Sharing knowledge and skills both within the health and disability sector and across sectors will be key to ensuring that successful change takes place.

The individuals and organisations in the health and disability sector will have to understand the role they play in contributing to the improved health,wellness and independence of New Zealanders. Even more importantly, they will have to know more than at present about all the other factors outside the health sector that also contribute to health gain. With an increasing understanding of their role, and of that of other sectors which improve health and independence,comes a responsibility to contribute to decisions about what research would be beneficial.

Within the health sector the following features are expected:

• evidence-based practice;

• customer focus;

• well co-ordinated services; and

• more multidisciplinary ways of working.

These features are likely because of an increasing need to ensure that investment in health care is well utilised, particularly in response to new technologies and consumer demand for treatment and care that reflects best practice.

There must be ongoing debate across the health sector about how to achieve the eight Foresight goals outlined above. The balance between the resources allocated to health services and specific items of technology or pharmaceuticals and those allocated to public health or Maori development initiatives, for example. There will be more pressure to ensure the services and treatment offered by health providers do offer tangible benefits to patients.

The relationship between researchers and end-users of the research must be strong to ensure that the research being undertaken can be applied and that the strategies used to disseminate the results of the research are effective. In particular, there must be dialogue to determine:

• the relevance of any research to health sector priority areas;

• research that is unique to New Zealand, such as Maori health research;

• the desirable balance between the various types of research such as biomedical, health services, clinical, disability and public health; and

• strategies to ensure good uptake of research.

The health and disability sector must take the leading role in ensuring that other sectors that influence health gain understand the ways in which,together, the sectors can work to improve health. Therefore, expect more collaboration, co-ordination and innovation across sectors, and hopefully as a result, health gain.

More information at: www.enigma.co.nz/hcro/website