District Health System Vision Development

By effectively engaging people in a meaningful visioning process, innovate change has contributed to the development of a new health charter for a North Island district health board.

Based out of Palmerston North, the MidCentral District Health Board funds and provides health and disability services to around 170,000 people living from north Manawatu down to Otaki in the south. MidCentral DHB is currently leading a strategic process with key opinion leaders, including clinicians, managers, NGOs, community leaders, education and social agencies. As part of this process, innovate change is designing and facilitating workshops with a wide range of MidCentral DHB stakeholders.

Action and Impact

In May 2014, innovate change designed and facilitated two large, highly interactive workshops in Palmerston North, each involving about 100 participants.

Using co-design methods like future-focused scenario development, backcasting and collaborative visioning exercises, participants in the workshops considered the rights and needs of patients as they move through the health system, and contributed to building a common language, vision and principles for the future MidCentral health system. Once analyzed, these outputs will be essential components of the new MidCentral Health Charter. The charter will define a unifying vision and the key principles that will drive this vision.