THINK Hauora Board

  1. Home
  2. THINK Hauora Board

The purpose of the THINK Hauora Board is to develop and maintain an effective innovative Primary Health Organisation and its associated network of independent provider members, to develop and deliver excellence in the development and delivery of health and health related services.  The PHO will drive change and transformation across the Health Care system in order to enable progress and integration. 

The Board Members below are also Alliance Leadership Team Members who work together to transform health services in the district.

 

Board Members:

 

Bruce has been a General Practitioner in Feilding for over 30 years.  He has wide interests in general practice including minor surgery, vasectomies, geriatric medicine and palliative care.

Continuing his palliative care interest, Bruce worked as a general practice representative on the initial working party which lead to the Palliative Care Partnership (PCP) initiative.  He was the lead author for the NZMA publication reporting the success of the PCP NZMJ 22 Sept 2006 Vol 119 No 1242 and continues to work on the PCP management group.  Bruce has been involved with other PCP management group members in numerous presentations of the PCP to DHB and health care groups in New Zealand.

Bruce was the founding Chairman of the Manawatu Independent Practitioner Association (MIPA), holding this position for six years.  He also served as a general practice representative on the Manawatu Primary Health Organisation (PHO) establishment committee and served on the interim Manawatu PHO Board.

Bruce was involved in the establishment of the ‘Integrated Family Health Centre’ in the Feilding community and is a shareholder Director of the new management company for the IFHC.

Since 2013 he has been a member of the PHO Trust Board and has been the Chairperson of the Board since July 2013.

Since September 2013 he has held the position of ‘Medical Director, Primary Care’ for the MidCentral District Health Board – a strategy, planning and support position which also provides clinical oversight to THINK Hauora management. 

Outside of medicine Bruce has a keen interest in his family and participates in motorsport as a doctor and competitor in classic car and endurance racing events.

 

Clare is a Community Pharmacist working as a Locum Pharmacist throughout the MidCentral District. She is also working on projects through the MidCentral Community Pharmacy Group maintaining and exploring innovative pharmacist services and new roles for pharmacists in a future integrated model. She is a member of the THINK Hauora Clinical Board and various DHB District Groups. She is the Chair of Alzheimers Manawatu  and an active Rotarian. She has had a varied career as a pharmacist and has held various governance roles throughout New Zealand.

 

Danielle Harris is the Chief Executive Officer of Tanenuiarangi Manawatu Incorporated Roopu, the  Iwi Authority for Rangitaane o Manawatu. This includes their health and social service arm Best Care (Whakapai Hauora) Charitable Trust and their communication arm Kia Ora FM 89.9. Danielle was also the Principal Negotiator for Rangitane o Manawatu Treaty of Waitangi Claims.

Danielle holds a Bachelor of Law, a Post Graduate Diploma In Business and Administration and a Certificate In Company Direction.

Danielle has been a Board member of MidCentral District Health Board also serving on their CPHAC, HAC and Audit Committees and UCOL. Danielle is presently the Chair of Te Tihi o Ruahine Whanau Ora Alliance,Te Ohu Auahi Mutunga(Smoking Cessation Alliance) and  Rangitaane o Manawatu Settlement Trust.

Danielle is committed to contributing to improving the health and wellbeing of our community with a strong focus in seeing health gains for Maori in our community.

 

Gaye has a keen interest in health matters from a community perspective. In particular she has concerns about how members of the public gain health literacy, navigate through the health system and  who provides advocacy for those who cannot advocate for themselves.

As a community representative Gaye serves on:

•    MidCentral DHB Consumer Council
•    PHO Clinical Board
•    Arohanui Hospice Clinical Governance Group
•    and various DHB short term projects when requested

Gaye has been a volunteer at Arohanui Hospice since 2004
 

 

Trustee 

Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga

Robyn is a Programme Co-ordinator for Te Rau Puawai Maori Mental Health Workforce Development within the College of Health, Massey University since 2010.  The programme was developed by Emeritus Professor Sir Mason Durie in 1999 between Health Workforce New Zealand (formerly Ministry of Health) and Massey University.
 
Robyn became involved in the health sector in 1996 when she joined Enable New Zealand, then Te Runanga o Raukawa as a Mental Health Support Worker followed onto Public Health and the PHO as a Health Promotion Advisor.
 
Robyn represents:
Manawhenua Hauora as an Iwi representative for Te Runanga o Raukawa
Hapu delegate for Te Runanga o Raukawa
Trustee for Te Roopu Hokowhitu
Trustee of the THINK Hauora Board
Member of the Clinical Board of THINK Hauora
Member of the Te Waiora Board - Foxton
Member of the Mid Central Regional Leadership Group – Enabling Good Lives – System Transformation
Co-opted Member of the Mid Central Consumer Council 
 
Robyn is also of Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Hauiti ki Rata, Te Whanau a Apanui and Ngati Whanaunga ki Hauraki descent.
 
Doctoral Candidate
 

 

Dr Simon Allan MB ChB MD FRACP FRCP(Edin.) FAChPM ONZM

Director of Palliative Care, Arohanui Hospice, Palmerston North

Dr Allan is working to see patients and their families at the centre of Health Care and to have Health Professionals and Health systems primarily responsive to those needs. With more than 30 years working in the care of patients with cancer and Palliative Care needs both as a Medical Oncologist and a Palliative Care Physician and with around 50 publications that support patient and family care initiatives, he is determined to try and encourage patient centred care throughout the District Health Board.

 

Stephen lives in Dannevirke and is a community representative on the THINK Hauora Board. Stephen’s first involvement in health was as the CEO of Rangitane o Tamaki nui a Rua an iwi health provider in the Tararua District.

He was a member of Manawhenua Hauora ,an iwi consortium, for a number of years. He served one term on the MidCentral District Health Board and has been a member of both CPHAC and HAC.

He was a founding member of the Tararua PHO and has been on the PHO board since its inception.

 

Dr Hayter has been a General Practitioner since 1990.  He trained in Australia and spent 16 years working in a small Rural Community in South Australia.  Dr Hayter is married, and his family has lived in Palmerston North for the last nine years.  One of their main interests has been hosting International students in their home for periods of a few days up to three years.  Over 80 students have stayed with them to date.

Dr Hayter has worked at The Palms since he arrived in New Zealand, he has been Clinical Director for about seven years and recently became a shareholder and a Director on the Board of the practice.  He is also a member of the GreenCross Clinical Advisory Group – which provides clinical support and direction to over 19 practices who are part of the GreenCross group.  Dr Hayter has also been a Trustee on the PHO Board for about seven years.

 

Dr. Nader Fattah MBChB MRCGP

Nader is a British medical graduate and a practicing GP of more than 15 years, attaining membership of the Royal College of GPs (UK) in 2005. After gaining his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree at the University of Dundee, Nader worked as a GP in Scotland, in diverse urban and rural settings. He took the opportunity to experience New Zealand in 2003, working in Palmerton North Hospital’s psychiatry department for one year. His love of Aotearoa, its land, people and culture inevitably drew him to settling permanently with his wife in 2010. As well as clinical practice in both Whakapai Hauora and YOSS, Nader is committed to advancing high quality delivery of care to consumers, Chairing the THINK Hauora Clinical Board. His role as Medical Advisor leverages his extensive Primary Care experience to provide leadership across many PHO clinical and business services. Nader is a Trustee of Think Hauora’s (formerly Central PHO) Board, member of the Senior Leadership Team, Information Governance Committee, MidCentral DHB Clinical and Pharmacy Boards, Clinical Council and ICT Reference Advisory Group. His membership of local, regional and national Boards has allowed Nader to cultivate a rich skill set in clinical, IT and business governance. Nader has a lifelong interest in technology that drives his pursuit of ICT to enhance people’s health and empower their lives. In 2019, in recognition of his Digital Health expertise, he was appointed as the NZ Primary Care representative to the Ministry’s Health Information Standard’s Organisation (HISO).

 

Anna Skinner is currently Clinical Director and General Practitioner at Kauri HealthCare. She has been working in General Practice in the Midcentral region since 2003, initially in Tararua where she was a director on the Tararua PHO Board   from 2004.

Nationally Anna sat on the Rural GP Network Executive from 2007-2009, advocating for access to excellent health care in rural communities. More recently Anna has been a primary care representative on the Maternity Quality   and Safety Governance Group at Midcentral and has joined the Child Health / Tamariki Ora District Group.

Anna is passionate about high quality patient care, reducing inequities in health and allowing people to reach optimal wellbeing and   live lives that enrich their families and communities. Primary Care is a rich work environment that engages with people at all stages of the lifespan. With the advent of IFHCs a unique opportunity has arisen to create functional multi-disciplinary teams that allow patients to access all the resources required to support their health and wellbeing needs in one setting where information is accessible to all members of the health team.

At Kauri HealthCare over the last 3 years   Anna has collaborated on projects increasing training opportunities for junior doctors and for nurses wanting to extend their scope and become prescribers or Nurse Practitioners. She has worked to build a cohesive team of health professionals using innovative models of care to meet the health needs of the Palmerston North community into the future.

 

Scott Ambridge, (Dip Bus Admin, Dip Qual Mngt, NZCS) has 20 years’ experience in operations and general management, holding senior positions in the public and private sector across a range of manufacturing and service organisations. For the last five years he has been General Manager of Enable New Zealand where he has overseen significant growth whilst promoting a strong culture of person-centred practice, partnership and innovation. He is committed to ensuring people are supported to live independently, have choices and live safely within their communities, and it is these principles that guides the decisions he makes and the ethos he brings to any organisation.  He has recently been appointed to the role of Operations Executive for Mental health and Addictions services after working on secondment for the last six months and looks forwards to working across the sector to improve the lives of people who experience mental health illness and distress.   

 

Jane has worked in various primary health care roles since 1991 including palliative care, general practice and primary health organisations.  Previous experience and knowledge gained in previous roles have included clinical and general facilitation, clinical direction, primary health care nursing, clinical skills, service development, implementation and evaluation, assessor of general practice accreditation, change management, quality improvement, auditing, coaching and mentoring, and governance roles both regionally and nationally.

Jane is passionate about primary health care and sees her role as fostering wider health care teamwork by providing practical and tangible means for achieving this.  Being quality focused and always striving to improve the health of the people Jane can offer proven skills and expertise in clinical leadership, clinical service delivery, primary health care service development, implementation and evaluation, and knowledge and linkages into communities within New Zealand.

Jane has been actively involved with Aiming for Excellence and CORNERSTONE general practice accreditation as an assessor and participating in expert advisory groups since 2000. Her current roles include primary health care nurse at Cook Street Health Centre, Palmerston North, member of the MidCentral DHB Clinical Council, board trustee Netball Manawatu, providing consultancy in primary health care settings, transformational leadership coaching and assessing general practices. 

Jane is a chartered member of the Institute of Directors (NZ) (CMInstD). 
 

 

 

Alliance Leadership Team

 

All Board Members are Alliance Leadership Team Members who strive to improve health outcomes for our populations through:

  • transforming healthcare services and supporting clinical decision making and the shifting of activities closer to patients;
  • making (and assisting the DHB to make) strategic health care decisions on a "whole- of-system"  basis;
  • providing leadership within our health community;
  • assessing the needs of our populations;
  • planning health services in our District, to make the best use of health resources;
  • balancing a focus on the highest priority needs areas in our communities, while ensuring appropriate care across all our populations;
  • establishing Service Alliances to advise on the development, delivery and monitoring of health services;
  • monitoring services that fall within the scope of our Alliance Activities; and
  • informing our populations and other stakeholders of our performance in achieving our objectives.

 

General Manager, Strategy, Planning & Performance, MidCentral DHB

Previously Senior Portfolio Manager, Primary Health Care, MidCentral DHB

Craig works in the Strategy, Planning & Performance team.   He has been extensively involved in both strategic and operational aspects of the DHB’s 10 year investment in the development of primary health care.  Craig’s interests revolve around the organization of service delivery, particularly how to achieve change.  In 2005 he received a Foxley Fellowship which provided study leave to investigate change in general practice.  He has used this experience to promote increasing accountabilities and incentives for general practice teams to achieve improved population health outcomes. Craig lives in Rongotea and he enjoys running. 

Main Responsibilities:

  • Leadership within Strategy, Planning & Performance
  • Strategic direction – Our Strategy
  • Long Term Investment Plan

Areas of Expertise:

  • Relationship management
  • Provider Management
  • Strategy
  • NGO and community engagement

 

Operations Executive Acute and Elective Specialist Services 
MidCentral District Health Board (MDHB)

Lyn has been in a variety of nursing and management roles over the last 35 years.  Since 2009, Lyn has held the role of Operations Director, Hospital Services, MidCentral DHB (MDHB) and most recently the role of Operations Executive Acute and Elective Specialist Services as MDHB moves towards an integrated service model. This role is responsible, in partnership with the Clinical Executive and Professional Leaders, to lead the planning, procurement, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of services to enable the DHB to develop integrated seamless care for our population across and between services. Lyn is an Executive Leadership Team member and an Alliance Leadership member for the DHB.

Responsible for:
•    Medical Services including CCU
•    Surgical Services including Hospital Dental Unit
•    Emergency Department
•    Ambulatory Care
•    Perioperative Services
•    ICU and Anaesthetic Services
•    Hospital Operations Centre
•    Medical Imaging
•    Hospital Pharmacy
 

 

Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery

Celina has vast experience in healthcare provision. Celina has worked as both a nurse and a midwife and held executive director and very senior positions in both nursing and midwifery management, leadership, supervision and project management and staff development in the UK and in Saudi Arabia.

Celina joined Mid Central District Health Board as their executive director of nursing and midwifery in January 2018, she is accountable for ensuring high standards of quality patient care and services are maintained, including patient care and experience.

One of Celina’s key roles is to ensure the on-going development of the nursing and midwifery services within the whole DHB to ensure that the needs of the patient underpin practice and care. 

 

 

Steve has worked within the ICT industry for over 25 years in both New Zealand and Australia with a large portion of that time being focussed on the Health and Disability Sector. 

Before taking up the role with MidCentral DHB, Steve worked for Central TAS as the Regional Executive Lead - Central Region Health Information and was instrumental in finalising the regional health informatics programme, which has recently been rolled out at MDHB. 

Steve has held senior management positons in a range of information technology companies, including Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), iSoft NZ Limited, and Gen-i and Telecom NZ.  This was complemented by a secondment to the Ministry of Health as a Senior Policy Advisor.

 

Debbie is the Operations Executive of the Primary, Public and Community Health cluster at MidCentral DHB and is a member of the Alliance Leadership Team between MidCentral DHB and THINK Hauora.

A Registered Nurse by background Debbie's experience spans a 27 year contribution to Primary health care service delivery and development within the MidCentral District Health Board in senior clinical, management and governance positions.

Debbie has been an active contributor to the local and national agenda for development of both primary health care nursing and evolving models of care.
Debbie has a passion and drive for utilising co-design in the effective development of models of care to ensure they are consumer focussed whilst providing clinicians with career advancement frameworks to enable full potential.

 

 

Julie is a Strategic Partner in the Provider Service Delivery Team at ACC. She is based in Wellington and has worked at ACC since September 2018. Julie is responsible for strategic engagement with seven DHBs in the North Island including Mid Central, Whanganui, Capital Coast, Hutt, Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti. At ACC, Julie supports several proof of concept projects e.g. High Tech Imaging, GP Connect and Escalated Care Pathway.
 
She was born in Malaysia and trained as a pharmacist in Melbourne, Victoria before she relocated to New Zealand in 1987. She has extensive health experience working in a variety of roles (community, clinical pharmacy and management) in Christchurch and Wellington hospitals and has served as an Executive on the New Zealand Hospital Pharmacists Association and the Pharmacy Industry Training Organisation. She has also worked as a tutor for the Post Graduate Clinical Pharmacy Programme at University of Otago.
 
In 2008, her career took a change in direction from pharmacy when she completed her MBA (Victoria University). Before her move to ACC, she has worked as a senior manager in the primary care sector and part of the deployment sector for the National Bowel Screening Programme at the Ministry of Health.
 
Julie holds a Bachelor in Pharmacy, Masters of Clinical Pharmacy and Masters of Business Administration.
 

 

Ko Tainui toku waka
Ko Maungatautari me Tararua oku maunga
Ko Waihou me Ohau oku Awa
Ko Pikitu, Ngatira, Tarakena, Tukorehe oku Marae
Ko Ngati Ahuru, me Ngati Tukorehe oku hāpu
Ko Raukawa kao kao roa Patetere me Tukorehe oku Iwi
Ko Betty-Lou Iwikau toku ingoa

I have had the privilege of leading integrated approaches to Māori health issues both in Auckland and the last few years in Manawatu/Horowhenua rohe. Leading planning processes with respect to Māori health and ensuring these are purposeful, targeted and joined with regional and local resources.

Working alongside whānau, hapū, Iwi and the wider communities to increase leadership and support the co-design of whanau-based approaches. Māori health outcomes is a significant piece of work that requires a collective effort and I have a passion and a commitment to engage whānau and resources to ensure a direct approach to rectifying these disparities. Together, collaboratively, I see economic growth in this level of wellbeing.

In 1994 I started adult education classes in my late twenties and three years later was given the opportunity to start working in the alcohol and drug field, supporting Māori men and women with addictions. That led to an opportunity in management, and I began lecturing part-time in social work with a PTE in 1999 and later with Te Wananga O Aotearoa in 2003. 

I completed a Bachelor in Māori Development and a Master of Arts in Māori Development, developing Te Toi O Matariki as my thesis, which was based on a personal growth and development model for whānau/families presenting with alcohol and drug abuse. During this time, I became a service manager in Māori health, which gave me a wider perspective of the impacts of poor health on Māori. I graduated with my PhD in December 2012. My doctoral research on Māori and gout was prompted when I realised how prevalent this disease is among our people. My thesis “A Journey for Māori and Gout: Putting Your Best Foot Forward” provided a framework based on a whakapapa paradigm, which I know works in the addiction field. 

I now am the Manukura/CEO for Raukawa Whānau Ora a Tribal provider working at multiple layers across social services, justice, health, education sectors. This role provides me the opportunity to engage and expand relationships, kaupapa and different environments from a “whanau Ora” approach. Contributions and feedback into the service delivery when engaging with Government, local government, iwi and Providers requires a dedicated focus. The key outcomes we seek are both transformative of how services are accessed, with opportunity to create improved and equitable pathways of care, and improved health and social wellbeing outcomes for whānau through a range of “Packages of care”.