Mai i te Tumuaki | From the Chair
Navigating transitions can be both challenging and transformative. As health sector leaders reflect on their need to change direction, it prompts us as clinicians to consider when the time is right to change our own path.E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, ngā mihi maioha ki a koutou – warmest greetings to you all.
Recent departures of health sector leaders who have spoken about the time being right for a new direction in leadership made me pause to consider — how do we, as clinicians, know when the time is right to change our own direction?
Our role of protecting the health and safety of the public, often sits in that grey place where clinicians are navigating change. The change may be related to alterations in vocation, location or situation. For other doctors, changes to practice occur after a notification from a patient. For most doctors, there is an initial mixture of shock, anger, bewilderment or remorse.
These responses very likely mirror that of the patient, in response to their sense of the healthcare experience that led them to make a notification.
It is uncommon for us to encounter a doctor who has deliberately breached their professional standards. More often, complaints arise despite doctors acting in good faith, sometimes due to system pressures, despite their best intentions for patients and communities. In these cases, making necessary changes to practice can be challenging.
Council recognises the stress for both patients and doctors when they are navigating our notification processes. Notifications are triaged in a weekly meeting, heard by members of Council, executive, and legal counsel. Care is given to apply right-touch regulation; proportionate, consistent and targeted to the specific issue.
In communicating with notifiers and doctors, we aim to be respectful, timely and compassionate. Novel processes, such as restorative interventions and community hui have been discussed.
It is also important that Council remain open to change, be agile and responsive to current and evolving issues, and remain compassionate towards the person; patient and doctor.
On behalf of Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa, we acknowledge the winds of change for departing health sector leaders, pay respect to the koha they have left for us and wish them well as they journey on.
We look forward to working with incoming health leaders and decision makers.
Nō reira, kia haere haumaru tonu koutou i ō koutou mahi, i ō koutou kāinga. Kia manawanui.
Dr Rachelle Love
Chair | Tumuaki
