Open Letter to Te Ara Maioha Whānau
January 17 2019
Tēnā koutou Te Ara Maioha Whānau
Follow up to Hei Oranga Ngākau Review
This is a summary follow up to the review completed by Glenis Philip-Barber into the issues raised in
the PSA letter to me in April of last year.
The review outcomes were presented to you by Glenis at the House of Breakthrough on 28 November.
There was an accompanying proposed set of actions from me in relation to the 6 recommendations
contained in the report. Copies of the report were provided and you were asked to provide feedback
on the report, conclusions, and the actions,
I acknowledge that some staff have felt that an opportunity to specifically address the hurt felt by
many, and to apologise for that, was missed at the meeting. I apologise for this as it is certainly
recognised as an important factor, as being felt by many over the past year.
The submissions were duly circulated
, in an anonymised format, to the members of the
review Steering Group:
The Steering Group and I met on 11 December to discuss the feedback, review the responses to the
draft recommendations and plan a way forward.
At the outset of the specific agreed actions from the Steering Group meeting, I want to raise one of
the most important actions, one that was not included in Glenis’s report, but which was promoted by
the PSA members of the group and readily accepted by the full group, and me. This is that given the
extent of the issues, hurt, mamae, there should be a marae based wānanga for Te Ara Maioha staff in
order to use a marae process to seek resolution of these matters, and to rebuild the trust that is
essential to support staff in their work, to therefore achieve recovery for whānau.
On further discussion with Te Kāhui Pakeke, the idea has been supported by that roopu, with expert
leadership for the process and not left at one such wānanga. I accept this advice and the first wānanga
will be planned for early March 2019.
Turning to the recommendations and next steps, the following is the agreed position of the Steering
Group.
Recommendation 1
Urgently strengthen the Governance capabilities within Te Kūwatawata It was agreed that this is a task for the governance of Te Kūwatawata itself which comprises
representatives from Hauora Tairāwhiti, Pinnacle, Te Kupenga and Te Kurahuna. This has been
progressed and needs to be more visible to Te Ara Maioha staff.
Recommendation 2
Urgently clarify the scope and focus of Te Kūwatawata for all stakeholders This is another action that has already received some attention. The Steering Group are aware of the
work carried out by a wider group of stakeholders, including primary care, that has addressed many
of the friction points and established agreed pathways. However, Te Ara Maioha staff have limited
visibility of this. It was agreed to re-start the working groups that had been in place earlier last year
and which were making good progress when put in abeyance at the time of the letter. The working
groups will need reviewed membership and leadership for each. They will ensure the development of
policies, procedures and pathways. They will link with the wider sector work done. They will be under
the direction and oversight of the Change Management Team.
Recommendation 3
Appoint an experienced change team
The team composition has been agreed and its purpose to oversee the work groups, guide the
dissemination of information to staff and receive feedback, plan out the change processes required
and move the service forward. There will be an agreed terms of reference for the team.
The team will have joint Hauora Tairāwhiti and PSA representation. It was also agreed to add an NZNO
representative.
Recommendation 4
Establish a WAKA values taskforce
This has been agreed as an organisation wide approach to re-invigorating the WAKA values. As
previously advised, Hauora Tairāwhiti, supported by site unions, has engaged the Cognitive Institute
to run the Speaking Up for Safety and the Promoting Professional Accountability Programmes at
Hauora Tairāwhiti.
Speaking Up for Safety has been launched and a call has gone out for people to apply to be trainers.
We have agreed to link the training to the WAKA values and for there to be a steering group over the
roll out, including union representation.
This will not be the only part of the WAKA values re-fresh work in 2019.
Recommendation 5
Strengthen training and development to complement & support Te Kura Huna - Grow and sustain a
range of indigenous approaches. Work has begun on this in two ways. The first is the kawa group which has developed the processes
in Tawhirimatea between the Cultural Therapy and the Psychiatrist Assessment Teams. The second is
a pakeke led group to provide input to Te Kūwatawata.
Recommendation 6
Aligning capability to our core demographic – achieveing a strategic shift
The Steering Group felt this recommendation linked back to the prior five and that no specific action
was required on it at this stage. It will however be monitored by the Change Management Team to
ensure any opportunities are not missed.
It also relates to the wider work across the organisation in approaches to improve equity. These do
not have a high profile and visibility needs increasing for Hauora Tairāwhiti staff in general.
Thank you for your responses to the review and to the input provided to planning the next steps. I am
very confident that the change team put forward will apply their efforts to ensure the next steps meet
the needs of all. I look forward to hearing the results of this, especially the wānanga. There is a lot of
work to do in 2019.
Ngā mihi
Jim
