Healthy Lifestyles programme redesigned

Te Whatu Ora – Waitaha Canterbury has announced a redesign for the Healthy Lifestyles programme for our district.

The new Healthy Lifestyles|Pae Ora programme will be provided by Waitaha Primary Health, Tangata Atumotu Trust, Whānau Whanake and Purapura Whetu Trust. Healthy Lifestyles is about supporting our community to achieve improved health and wellbeing and reducing the burden of disease on those with long term health conditions.

Tracey Maisey, Executive Director Planning, Funding and Decision Support, says that changes have been made as a result of a thorough co-design process with the community, and the new services will reflect the findings of that positive engagement.

“This was, for us, a different way of commissioning providers, and one where we listened to consumers and were guided by their feedback,” says Tracey Maisey.

“With the shift to Te Whata Ora – Health New Zealand, this was, for us, an exciting opportunity to work differently with our providers, and their feedback has been instrumental in guiding our approach.

“It became clear that we needed to provide a more holistic, collaborative and culturally responsive whānau/family partnership approach, targeted at our priority populations.”

Pae Ora ki Waitaha, a working group of the Population and Health Service Level Alliance, held extensive community consultation with our Māori, Pacific, youth, disability, rainbow, older persons and refugee communities, as well as with clinicians across the health system, to understand what was needed in an equitable health system and to determine the principles and criteria needed for the new service.

Te Whatu Ora – Waitaha Canterbury then ran a Request for Proposal process and a new service model was drafted with the providers which will enhance our ability to provide culturally engaging, responsive, accessible and whānau-centred services.
Waitaha Primary Health Chief Executive Bill Eschenbach is delighted to be part of the new Healthy Lifestyles|Pae Ora Service.

“A health assistant will be assigned to a client and will work alongside them and their whānau to set their own goals which will help them to move toward their dreams and aspirations of living a healthy lifestyle.

“Our Whānau Ora approach will support our clients to remove barriers to achieving a healthy lifestyle and achieve sustainable intergenerational change.”

Karaitiana Tickell, Kaiwhakahaere of the Purapura Whetu Trust, adds that the service aims to unleash the full potential of the whānau who access it.

“We are all excited to work together to provide the best support and encouragement we can which identifies the needs of our clients and is unique to them, as well as being culturally-informed and relevant for the life they lead.”

The new referrals process is currently being finalised with the new providers and further information on making referrals to the new service will be provided to primary care in August through Canterbury HealthPathways. The new providers will be in place by September 2022.