Read the Latest From BOPDHB CE, Helen Mason - 7 September 2018 18 Sep 2018

It was great to have Health Minister the Honorable Dr David Clark visit us recently on his second trip to the Bay as Minister.

A Visit from the Health Minister

It was great to have Health Minister the Honorable Dr David Clark visit us recently on his second trip to the Bay as Minister. He spent the morning with us at Tauranga Hospital and had been hoping to visit Whakatāne Hospital as well but unfortunately his travel commitments didn’t allow this. We have agreed that next time he comes to the Bay it will be to visit Whakatāne, as he’s really keen to meet with the team there and understand more about the work going on in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

We took the opportunity to share with Dr Clark the recent innovations in our Allied Health Services. Our Executive Director of Allied Health, Scientific and Technical Martin Chadwick presented on the Allied Health workforce so the Minister got a picture of how complex it is. Allied Health is a grouping of over 30 individual professions. Usually it is acknowledged as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, dietetics and speech and language; however it includes another 25 professions.

Allied Health is a critical part of the healthcare workforce, having a very significant impact on patient care, and Martin’s presentation included examples of where the service has achieved very real change for our patients. We also shared some recent innovations in Allied Health which the Minister was very impressed with.

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