Our series of design workshops for a new Local Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Service wrapped up this week, with the third session seeing the largest attendance to date.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the commitment of those who attended. You provided lots of feedback and challenges - everybody worked hard, and we have lots more to do.
The workshops have offered an opportunity for people from across the sector to come together and learn about work happening in different areas and provided some rich information on which to base the next stages of our mahi.
The third workshop had a strong emphasis on localities, and this was reflected in the first session, ‘Getting Local’, which worked to get an understanding of the local conditions within which the new service needs to operate. Attendees formed groups based around locality (Kāpiti, Porirua, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Wellington), and, from their locality’s perspective, were invited to consider:
What works well that we must not lose?
What are the unique challenges in that locality?
What are the key relationships/partnerships that we need to maintain/build?
The second session focused on determining the critical activities each service must provide (such as triage, assessment, therapeutic interventions and assertive outreach), and the relationship with other services. Groups discussed:
What are the core activities that each service must provide?
What other activities could/should the service undertake?
How will the local service connect with speciality teams, inpatient units and regional services?
The final session in the series saw teams design their ideal service without writing anything down. The result was some very rich storytelling and helped identify what was most important to those present.
Next, we will be seeking some more specialised feedback from groups to make sure we have canvassed all the perspectives needed to move forward. This, along with what we learned at the workshops and other feedback received, will help shape a detailed design plan for the Local Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Service, which will be presented for consultation in April.
When feedback from that consultation has been used to finalise a new way of working, we plan to start rolling out the changes around July this year. This will be an iterative process - we will not change everything overnight. We will communicate with kaimahi and stakeholders, particularly those whose roles may change, throughout this process.
