Waikato DHB Hosts Future-Focussed Workshop
Everyday, public health staff work to protect your health * the public's health.
Whether it be promoting healthy lifestyles in your schools, enforcing hygiene standards in eating establishments, or
notifying you of dangerous situations and contagious illnesses * their work is vital.
So much so, that Waikato has opted to be the first district health board in the country to host a workshop around
ensuring a strong future for the public health workforce.
Te Uru Kahikatea: The Public Health Workforce Development Plan 2007-2016 is a Ministry of Health document, and the first
of its kind.
The plan offers a national strategic approach to workforce development in the sector during the next 10 years.
About 70 Waikato public health and council staff will next week attend the information sharing opportunity, hosted by
Waikato DHB's Population Health Service.
The focus of the workshop, titled Celebrating Success * Learning from Journeys, will be how the national plan can be
broken down at a regional level.
"Population Health were involved in development of Te Uru, and really didn't want the document to just sit on the
shelf," said Population Health infrastructure team manager Anne Morrison.
"One of the ways of building capacity is to share journeys of learning or experiences of projects, which is why we
thought a workshop, would be a good forum."
The workshop comprises two parts.
"We will discuss the impact of the plan on Waikato's public health workforce and any available support from the ministry
around implementation of that," said Mrs Morrison.
Meanwhile, the afternoon session will celebrate success stories from the sector and the journeys taken to get there.
This includes a presentation of key initiatives that could potentially inform future workforce planning throughout the
region
The expo will take place from 9.30am-3.15pm at Hamilton Airport Motor Inn on Tuesday, April 15.
Keynote speakers include Waikato DHB chief executive Craig Climo and Population Health Service group manager Barbara
Garbutt.
ENDS