The New Zealand Health Strategy

Full text version

Date of publication: December 2000This is the full text online version of this document. You can also download this publication in PDF format.

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Chapter 7:
Implementing the New Zealand Health Strategy

For people to be confident in the health system, there needs to be open accountability and monitoring of services to ensure the aspirations of the New Zealand Health Strategy are being met. This will help to build public confidence in the health system.

The Ministry of Health and District Health Boards will be held accountable for delivering the New Zealand Health Strategy through their annual funding agreements with the Minister of Health. District Health Boards will also hold providers accountable through their annual funding agreements.

The New Zealand Health Strategy provides the overarching framework for action on health. It does not identify how specific priority objectives or services will be addressed. These details are contained in more specific and detailed strategies (toolkits) or action plans.

Appendix 2 contains details on existing strategies (such as the Blueprint for Mental Health Services), or planned new strategies, under the umbrella of the New Zealand Health Strategy.

There are important intersectoral strategies and programmes that will continue to influence action to implement the New Zealand Health Strategy.

These include Strengthening Families and Family Start, the National Drug Policy, the youth suicide initiative, and the National Road Safety Plan.

These intersectoral initiatives will continue to influence action at all levels. It is important to ensure that the Ministry of Health, District Health Boards and providers co-ordinate their activities with other agencies delivering services as part of such intersectoral initiatives.

The relationship between the various areas and District Health Board activities is shown in Figure 1.

See also:

Implementing the New Zealand Health Strategy 2001
Implementing the New Zealand Health Strategy 2002
Implementing the New Zealand Health Strategy 2003

Toolkits

Toolkits will be developed to identify the types of actions different organisations need to take to address the priority population health objectives identified in Chapter 4. A separate toolkit will be developed for each of the 13 population priority objectives.

Those toolkits will contain:

evidence and ‘best practice’ for achieving health gains for different population groups evidence on action that can be taken by different health providers and also agencies outside the health sector indicators by which performance may be measured. The indicators developed within the toolkits will be the principal means of measuring progress on the priority objectives.

DHB Toolkits are available at www.newhealth.govt.nz/toolkits.

Other strategies

Additional strategies sit under the umbrella of the New Zealand Health Strategy and the New Zealand Disability Strategy. In some cases, those strategies will link directly into toolkits to provide additional evidence.

The Ministry is in the process of producing additional and more detailed strategies for specific population groups or health issues. They are described in Appendix 2.