The Excellence through Patient and Family Centred Care Project aims to identify best practices and bring about system changes that enable the Bay of Plenty Health Board (BOPDHB) and other organisations to become and remain patient and family centred by bringing the perspectives of patients and families directly into the planning, delivery and evaluation of health care and by building on our existing Health Excellence framework to improve quality and patient safety.
Establishing a culture of patient and family centred care requires long term commitment and is a journey not a destination. The Excellence through Patient and Family Centred Care project will enable the Bay of Plenty District Health Board to establish the resources, needs and priorities of their health consumers and begin the journey of implementation across their services. Overcoming a well-ingrained resistance to open disclosure in all we do is a gradual process.
The development of a self assessment tool and toolkit for use as a guide for BOPDHB and other organisations across New Zealand presents a unique set of circumstances to overcome. Every organisation has a unique culture and its own set of circumstances, communities served, bed size, governance structure, service lines, available resources, technological capability, reputation, and history and this varies greatly across New Zealand. Accordingly, to claim that every one of the strategies developed for use at BOPDHB would work for every organisation would be the height of folly. Instead, the practices that will be presented are needed to be considered as building blocks. They will be available to share with others throughout the country for others to consider their own ways to adapt them to make them their own, or perhaps to use them as inspiration to develop a completely new and innovative way to address a similar patient, family or staff need. But most importantly it is hoped they will inspire them to do something to commence their own journey.